“The Lord Yahweh says: ‘This is Jerusalem. I have set her in the middle of the nations, and countries are around her. She has rebelled against my ordinances in doing wickedness more than the nations, and against my statutes more than the countries that are around her; for they have rejected my ordinances, and as for my statutes, they have not walked in them.’
“Therefore the Lord Yahweh says: ‘Because you are more turbulent than the nations that are around you, and have not walked in my statutes, neither have kept my ordinances, neither have followed the ordinances of the nations that are around you; therefore the Lord Yahweh says: ‘Behold, I, even I, am against you; and I will execute judgments among you in the sight of the nations. I will do in you that which I have not done, and which I will not do anything like it any more, because of all your abominations. Therefore the fathers will eat the sons within you, and the sons will eat their fathers. I will execute judgments on you; and I will scatter the whole remnant of you to all the winds. Therefore as I live,’ says the Lord Yahweh, ‘surely, because you have defiled my sanctuary with all your detestable things, and with all your abominations, therefore I will also diminish you. My eye won’t spare, and I will have no pity. A third part of you will die with the pestilence, and they will be consumed with famine within you. A third part will fall by the sword around you. A third part I will scatter to all the winds, and will draw out a sword after them.
“ ‘Thus my anger will be accomplished, and I will cause my wrath toward them to rest, and I will be comforted. They will know that I, Yahweh, have spoken in my zeal, when I have accomplished my wrath on them.
“ ‘Moreover I will make you a desolation and a reproach among the nations that are around you, in the sight of all that pass by. So it will be a reproach and a taunt, an instruction and an astonishment, to the nations that are around you, when I execute judgments on you in anger and in wrath, and in wrathful rebukes—I, Yahweh, have spoken it— when I send on them the evil arrows of famine that are for destruction, which I will send to destroy you. I will increase the famine on you, and will break your staff of bread. I will send on you famine and evil animals, and they will bereave you. Pestilence and blood will pass through you. I will bring the sword on you. I, Yahweh, have spoken it.’ ”
John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain On vv5–17 Now God shows the reason why he determined to…
Now God shows the reason why he determined to act so severely and harshly towards that holy city which he had selected as the royal residence. For the greater the benefits with which he had adorned the city, by so much the baser and grosser was their ingratitude. God recounts, therefore, his benefits towards Jerusalem, and that for the sake of reproving it. For if the Jews had embraced the blessing of God, doubtless he would have enriched them more and more with his gifts: but when he saw that they rejected his favors, he was the more angry with their indignity. For contempt of God’s benefits is a kind of profanation and sacrilege. Now, therefore, we understand the intention of the Holy Spirit when he says, that Jerusalem was placed as it were on a lofty platform, that its dignity might be conspicuous on all sides. This is not said in praise of Jerusalem, but rather to its greatest disgrace, because whatever the Lord had conferred upon it ought to be taken into account, since they had so unworthily corrupted themselves and had polluted God’s glory as it were on purpose. As to its being said, that Jerusalem was in the midst of the nations,(Psalm 74:12,) I do not take this so precisely as Jerome and most others. For they fancy that Jerusalem was the center of the earth, and he twists other places also into this sense: where God is said to have worked salvation to the midst of the earth, he explains it the very middle, as they say. But that is in my judgment puerile, because the Prophet simply means that Jerusalem was placed in the most celebrated part of the world: it had on all sides the most noble nations and very rich, as is well known, and was not far distant from the Mediterranean Sea: on one side it was opposite to Asia Minor: then it had Egypt for a neighbor, and Babylon on the north. This is the genuine sense of the Prophet, that Jerusalem was endued with remarkable nobility among other nations, as if God had placed it in the highest rank. There is no city which has not nations and lands round it, but God here names lands and nations par excellence, not any whatsoever, but those only which excelled in fruitfulness, in opulence, and all advantages. And the demonstrative pronoun is emphatic when he says, This is Jerusalem: for he extols the city with magnificent praises, that its ingratitude may appear the greater — hence it was placed in the midst of the nations and of countries round about it: because it was surrounded by many opulent regions, and there the grace of God was chiefly displayed, as if it were the most beautiful part of a theater, which attracted all eyes towards it, and moved all minds to admiration.
John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On vv6, 7, 13, 16 My word and law into idolatry and superstitions.
My word and law into idolatry and superstitions.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv5–17 Eze 5:5 Thus saith the Lord GOD; This [is]…
Eze 5:5 Thus saith the Lord GOD; This [is] Jerusalem: I have set it in the midst of the nations and countries [that are] round about her.
Ver. 5. This is Jerusalem,] i.e., This head and beard so to be shaved. {Eze 5:1} By the hair of the head some think the wise men of that city are figured out, and by the hair of the beard are the strong men; the razor of God’s severity maketh clean work, leaving no stub or stump behind it.
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I have set it in the midst of the nations.] As the head, heart, and centre of the earth. See Psa 72:10 Eze 38:12; and God had peculiar ends in it, that the law might go forth out of Zion, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem, and that all nations might flow into it. {Isa 2:2-3} Talis est Roma Christianis, Such now is Rome to Christians, saith A Lapide; but lay a straw there, say we; or, as the Gloss saith upon some decrees of popes, Haec non credo, I believe it not. See Rev 17:5.
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 vv5–17 Thus saith the Lord God: this solemn declaration in…
Thus saith the Lord God: this solemn declaration in God’s name the prophet useth by express order, Eze 3:11.
This portrayed city’s typically Jerusalem, and her inhabitants.
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I have placed her in a most delightful situation, chosen out the best part of the known world for her; in a neighbourhood to most rich and plenteous countries, with whom she might have conversed and spread forth my name, and which are round about her, either as servants about a mistress, or as meaner houses about the palace or manor of a lord, or as traders about an emporium, much to advantage of Jerusalem.
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 v5 We have here the explanation of the foregoing similitude:…
We have here the explanation of the foregoing similitude: This is Jerusalem. Thus it is usual in scripture language to give the name of the thing signified to the sign; as when Christ said, This is my body. The prophet's head, which was to be shaved, signified Jerusalem, which by the judgments of God was now to be stripped of all its ornaments, to be emptied of all its inhabitants, and to be set naked and bare, to be shaved with a razor that is hired, Isa 7:20. The head of one that was a priest, a prophet, a holy person, was fittest to represent Jerusalem the holy city. Now the contents of these verses are much the same with what we have often met with, and still shall, in the writings of the prophets. Here we have,
I. The privileges Jerusalem was honoured with (Eze 5:5): I have set it in the midst of the nations and countries that are round about her, and those famous nations and very considerable. Jerusalem was not situated in a remote obscure corner of the world, far from neighbours, but in the midst of kingdoms that were populous, polite, and civilized, famed for learning, arts, and sciences, and which then made the greatest figure in the world. But there seems to be more in it than this. 1. Jerusalem was dignified and preferred above the neighbouring nations and their cities. it was set in the midst of them as excelling them all. This holy mountain was exalted above all the hills, Isa 2:2. Why leap you, you high hills? This is the hill which God desires to dwell in, Psa 68:16. Jerusalem was a city upon a hill, conspicuous and illustrious, and which all the neighbouring nations had an eye upon, some for good-will, some for ill-will. 2. Jerusalem was designed to have a good influence upon the nations and countries round about, was set in the midst of them as a candle upon a candlestick, to spread the light of divine revelation, which she was blessed with, to all the dark corners of the neighbouring nations, that from them it might diffuse itself further, even to the ends of the earth. Jerusalem was set in the midst of the nations, to be as the heart in the body, to invigorate this dead world with a divine life as well as to enlighten this dark world with a divine light, to be an example of every thing that was good. The nations that observed what excellent statutes and judgments they had concluded them to be a wise and understanding people (Deu 4:6), fit to be consulted as an oracle, as they were in Solomon's time, Kg1 4:34. And, had they preserved this reputation and made a right use of it, what a blessing would Jerusalem have been to all the nations about! But, failing to be so, the accomplishment of this intention was reserved for its latter days, when out of Zion went forth the gospel law and the word of the Lord Jesus from Jerusalem, and there repentance and remission began to be preached, and thence the preachers of them went forth into all nations. And, when that was done, Jerusalem was levelled with the ground. Note, When places and persons are made great, it is with design that they may do good and that those about them may be the better for them, that their light may shine before men.
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II. The provocations Jerusalem was guilty of. A very high charge is here drawn up against that city, and proved beyond contradiction sufficient to justify God in seizing its privileges and putting it under military execution. 1. She has not walked in God's statutes, nor kept his judgments (Eze 5:7); nay, the inhabitants of Jerusalem had refused his judgments and his statutes (Eze 5:6); they did not do their duty, nay, they would not, they said that they would not. Those statutes and judgments which their neighbours admired they despised, which they should have set before their face they cast behind their back. Note, A contempt of the word and law of God opens a door to all manner of iniquity. God's statutes are the terms on which he deals with men; those that refuse his terms cannot expect his favours. 2. She had changed God's judgments into wickedness (Eze 5:6), a very high expression of profaneness, that the people had not only broken God's laws, but had so perverted and abused them that they had made them the excuse and colour of their wickedness. They introduced the abominable customs and usages of the heathen, instead of God's institutions; this was changing the truth of God into a lie (Rom 1:25) and the glory of God into shame, Psa 4:2. Note, Those that have been well educated, if they live ill, put the highest affront imaginable upon God, as if he were the patron of sin and his judgments were turned into wickedness. 3. She had been worse than the neighbouring nations, to whom she should have set a good example: She has changed my judgments, by idolatries and false worship, more than the nations (Eze 5:6), and she has multiplied (that is, multiplied idols and altars, gods and temples, multiplied those things the unity of which was their praise) more than the nations that were round about. Israel's God is one, and his name one, his altar one; but they, not content with this one God, multiplied their gods to such a degree that according to the number of their cities so were their gods, and their altars were as heaps in the furrows of the field; so that they exceeded all their neighbours in having gods many and lords many. They corrupted revealed religion more than the Gentiles had corrupted natural religion. Note, If those who have made a profession of religion, and have had a pious education, apostatize from it, they are commonly more profane and vicious than those who never made any profession; they have seven other spirits more wicked. 4. She had not done according to the judgments of the nations, Eze 5:7. Israel had not acted towards their God, as the nations had acted towards their gods, though they were false gods; they had not been so observant of him nor so constant to him. Has a nation changed its gods, or slighted them, so as they have? Jer 2:11. or it may refer to their morals; instead of reforming their neighbors, they came short of them; and many who were of the uncircumcision kept the righteousness of the law better than those who were of the circumcision, Rom 2:26, Rom 2:27. Those who had the light of scripture did not according to the judgments of many who had only the light of nature. Note, There are those who are called Christians who will in the great day be condemned by the better tempers and better lives of sober heathens. 5. The particular crime charged upon Jerusalem is profaning the holy things, which she had been both entrusted and honoured with (Eze 5:11): Thou hast defiled my sanctuary with all thy detestable things, with thy idols and idolatries. The images of their pretended deities, and the groves erected in honour of them, were brought into the temple; and the ceremonies used by idolaters were brought into the worship of God. Thus every thing that is sacred was polluted. Note, Idols are detestable things any where, but more especially so in the sanctuary.
III. The punishments that Jerusalem should fall under for these provocations: Shall not God visit for these things? No doubt he shall. The matter of the sentence here passed upon Jerusalem is very dreadful, and the manner of expression makes it yet more so; the judgments are various, and the threatenings of them varied, reiterated, inculcated, that one may well say, Who is able to stand in God's sight when once he is angry?
1. God will take this work of punishing Jerusalem into his own hands; and who knows the power of his anger and what a fearful thing it is to fall into his hands? Observe what a strong emphasis is laid upon it (Eze 5:8): I, even I, am against thee. God had been for Jerusalem, to defend and save it; but miserable is its case when he has turned to be its enemy and fights against it. If God be against us, the whole creation is at war with us, and nothing can be for us so as to stand us in any stead: "You think it is only the Chaldean army that is against you, but they are God's hand, or rather the staff in his hand; it is I, even I, that am against thee, not only to speak against thee by prophets, but to act against thee by providence. I will execute judgments in thee (Eze 5:10), in the midst of thee (Eze 5:8), not only in the suburbs, but in the heart of the city, not only in the borders, but in the bowels of the country." Note, Those who will not observe the judgments of God's mouth shall not escape the judgments of his hand; and God's judgments, when they come with commission, will penetrate into the midst of a people, will enter into the soul, into the bowels like water and like oil into the bones. I will execute judgments. Note, God himself undertakes to execute his own judgments, according to the true and full intent of them; whatever are the instruments, he is the principal agent.
2. These punishments shall come from his displeasure. As to the body of the people, it shall not be a correction in love, but he will execute judgments in anger, and in fury, and in furious rebukes (Eze 5:15), strange expressions to come from a God who has said, Fury is not in me, and who has declared himself gracious, and merciful, and slow to anger. But they are designed to show the malignity of sin, and the offence it gives to the just and holy God. That must needs be a very evil thing which provokes him to such resentments, and against his own people too, that had been so high in his favour, and expressed with so much satisfaction (Eze 5:13): "My anger, which has long been withheld, shall now be accomplished, and I will cause my fury to rest upon them; it shall not only light upon them, but lie upon them, and fill them as vessels of wrath fitted by their own wickedness to destruction; and, justice being hereby glorified, I will be comforted, I will be entirely satisfied in what I have done." As, when God is dishonoured by the sins of men, he is said to be grieved (Psa 95:10), so when he is honoured by their destruction he is said to be comforted. The struggle between mercy and judgment is over, and in this case judgment triumphs, triumphs indeed; for mercy that has been so long abused is now silent and gives up the cause, has not a word more to say on the behalf of such an ungrateful incorrigible people: My eye shall not spare, neither will I have any pity, Eze 5:11. Divine compassion defers the punishment, or mitigates it, or supports under it, or shortens it; but here is judgment without mercy, wrath without any mixture or allay of pity. These expressions are thus sharpened and heightened perhaps with design to look further, to the vengeance of eternal fire, which some of the destructions we read of in the Old Testament were typical of, and particularly that of Jerusalem; for surely it is nowhere on this side hell that this word has its full accomplishment, My eye shall not spare, but I will cause my fury to rest. Note, Those who live and die impenitent will perish for ever unpitied; there is a day coming when the Lord will not spare.
3. Punishments shall be public and open: I will execute these judgments in the sight of the nations (Eze 5:8); the judgments themselves shall be so remarkable that all the nations far and near shall take notice of them; they shall be all the talk of that part of the world, and the more for the conspicuousness of the place and people on which they are inflicted. Note, Public sins, as they call for public reproofs (those that sin rebuke before all), so, if those prevail not, they call for public judgments. He strikes them as wicked men in the open sight of others (Job 34:26), that he may maintain and vindicate the honour of his government, for (as Grotius descants upon it here) why should he suffer it to be said, See what wicked lives those lead who profess to be the worshippers of the only true God! And, as the publicity of the judgments will redound to the honour of God, so it will serve, (1.) To aggravate the punishment, and to make it lie the more heavily. Jerusalem, being made waste, becomes a reproach among the nations in the sight of all that pass by, Eze 5:14. The more conspicuous and the more peculiar any have been in the day of their prosperity the greater disgrace attends their fall; and that was Jerusalem's case. The more Jerusalem had been a praise in the earth the more it is now a reproach and a taunt, Eze 5:15. This she was warned of as much as any thing when her glory commenced (Kg1 9:8), and this was lamented as much as any thing when it was laid in the dust, Lam 2:15. (2.) To teach the nations to fear before the God of Israel, when they see what a jealous God he is, and how severely he punishes sin even in those that are nearest to him: It shall be an instruction to the nations, Eze 5:15. Jerusalem should have taught her neighbours the fear of God by her piety and virtue, but, she not doing that, God will teach it to them by her ruin; for they have reason to say, If this be done in the green tree, what shall be done in the dry? If judgment begin at the house of God, where will it end? If those be thus punished who only had some idolaters among them, what will become of us who are all idolaters? Note, The destruction of some is designed for the instruction of others. Malefactors are publicly punished in terrorem - that others may take warning.
4. These punishments, in the kind of them, shall be very severe and grievous. (1.) They shall be such as have no precedent or parallel. Their sins being more provoking than those of others, the judgments executed upon them should be uncommon (Eze 5:9): "I will do in thee that which I have not done in thee before, though thou hast long since deserved it; nay, that which I have not done in any other city." This punishment of Jerusalem is said to be greater than that of Sodom (Lam 4:6), which was more grievous than all that went before it; nay, it is such as "I will not do any more the like, all the circumstances taken in, to any other city, till the like come to be done again to this city, in the final overthrow by the Romans." This is a rhetorical expression of the most grievous judgments, like that character of Hezekiah, that there was none like him, before or after him. (2.) They shall be such as will force them to break the strongest bonds of natural affection to one another, which will be a just punishment of them for their wilfully breaking the bonds of their duty to God (Eze 5:10): The fathers shall eat the sons, and the sons shall eat the fathers, through the extremity of the famine, or shall be compelled to do it by their barbarous conquerors. (3.) There shall be a complication of judgments, any one of them terrible enough, and desolating; but what then would they be when they came all together and in perfection? Some shall be taken away by the plague (Eze 5:12); the pestilence shall pass through thee (Eze 5:17), sweeping all before it, as the destroying angel; others shall be consumed with famine, shall gradually waste away as men in a consumption (Eze 5:12); this is again insisted on (Eze 5:16): I will send upon them the evil arrows of famine; hunger shall make them pine, and shall pierce them to the heart, as if arrows, evil arrows, poisoned darts, were shot into them. God has many arrows, evil arrows, in his quiver; when some are discharged, he has still more in reserve. I will increase the famine upon you. A famine in a bereaved country may decrease as fruits spring forth; but a famine in a besieged city will increase of course; yet god speaks of it as his act: "I will increase it, and will break your staff of bread, will take away the necessary supports of life, will disappoint you of all that which you depend upon, so that there is no remedy, but you must fall to the ground." Life is frail, is weak, is burdened, so that, if it have not daily bread for its staff to lean upon, it cannot but sink, and is soon gone if that staff be broken. Others shall fall by the sword round about Jerusalem, when they sally out upon the besiegers; it is a sword which God will bring, Eze 5:17. The sword of the Lord, that used to be drawn for Jerusalem's defence, is now drawn for its destruction. Others are devoured by evil beasts, which will make a prey of those that fly for shelter to the deserts and mountains. They shall meet their ruin where they expected refuge, for there is no escaping the judgments of God, Eze 5:17. And, lastly, those who escape shall be scattered into all parts of the world, into all the winds (so it is expressed, Eze 5:10, Eze 5:12), intimating that they should not only be dispersed, but hurried, and tossed, and driven to and fro, as chaff before the wind. Nay, and Cain's curse (to be fugitives and vagabonds) is not the worst of it neither; their restless life shall be cut off by a bloody death: "I will draw out a sword after them, which shall follow them wherever they go." Evil pursues sinners; and the curse shall come upon them and overtake them.
5. These punishments will prove their ruin by degrees. They shall be diminished (Eze 5:11); their strength and glory shall grow less and less. They shall be bereaved (Eze 5:17), emptied of all that which was their joy and confidence. God sends these judgments on purpose to destroy them, Eze 5:16. The arrows are not sent (as those which Jonathan shot) for their direction, but for their destruction; for god will accomplish his fury upon them (Eze 5:13); the day of God's patience is over, and the ruin is remediless. Though this prophecy was to have its accomplishment now quickly, in the destruction of Jerusalem by the Chaldeans, yet the executioners not being named here, but the criminal only (this is Jerusalem), we may well suppose that it looks further, to the final destruction of that great city by the Romans when God made a full end of the Jewish nation, and caused his fury to rest upon them.
6. All this is ratified by the divine authority and veracity: I the Lord have spoken it, Eze 5:15 and again Eze 5:17. The sentence is passed by him that is Judge of heaven and earth, whose judgment is according to truth, and the judgments of whose hand are according to the judgments of his mouth. he has spoken it who can do it, for with him nothing is impossible. He has spoken it who will do it, for he is not a man that he should lie. He has spoken it whom we are bound to hear and heed, whose ipse dixit - word commands the most serious attention and submissive assent: And they shall know that I the Lord have spoken it, Eze 5:13. There were those who thought it was only the prophet that spoke it in his delirium; but God will make them know, by the accomplishment of it, that he has spoken it in his zeal. Note, Sooner or later, God's word will prove itself.
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 vv5–17 Thus saith the Lord God, this is Jerusalem,.... A…
Thus saith the Lord God, this is Jerusalem,.... A type or sign of it; it may refer to both the former and latter type. It is the city of Jerusalem that is designed by the city portrayed upon the tile; and the same is signified by the head of the prophet that was to be shaved; that being not only the chief city of Judea, but of the whole world, as follows:
I have set it in the midst of the nations; as the chief of them; and distinguished it from them by peculiar favours and blessings, natural and spiritual; being seated in a land flowing with milk and honey; and having the house and worship of God in it; and where were the symbols of his presence, and his word and ordinances; and therefore should have excelled them in true religion, devotion, and holiness, and set an example to them. The Jews generally understand this of the natural situation of Jerusalem. Jarchi interprets it of the middle of the world; as if it was mathematically placed in the centre of the earth. Kimchi says it was in the midst of the continent; and so its air was better than others; and these sort of writers (n) often speak of the land of Israel being in the navel or centre of the earth; they say (o) that the sanhedrim sat in the middle of the world; and therefore is compared to the navel, Sol 7:2; because it sat in the temple, which was in the middle of the world; but the former sense is best; though Jerom gives in to the latter:
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and countries that are round about her: this is a proposition of itself; fire former clause being distinguished from it by the accent "athnach"; and should be rendered thus, "and the countries are", or "were, round about her" (p); on the east was Asia, on the west Europe on the south Africa and Libya, and on the north Babylon, Scythia, Armenia, Persia, and Pontus; and was mere conspicuous, eminent, and honourable than them all, having greater privileges, prerogatives, and excellencies; and therefore should have exceeded them in its regard to the laws and statutes of God, which she did not; hence this is said, in order to upbraid her for her ingratitude, as appears by the following words.
(n) Kimchi in Ezek. xxxviii. 12. (o) T. Bab. Sanhedrin. fol. 37. 1. & Gloss. in ib. (p) "et circa eam erant terrae", Cocceius.
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 vv5, 6, 7, 9, 10, 11, 13, 15, 17 This is Jerusalem - This portrayed city, is typically…
This is Jerusalem - This portrayed city, is typically Jerusalem. The midst - Jerusalem was set in the midst of the nations, to be as the heart in the body, to invigourate the dead world with a divine life, as well as to enlighten the dark world with a divine light.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv5, 6, 9, 10, 12, 13, 16, 17 Verse 5. This is Jerusalem: I have set it…
Verse 5. This is Jerusalem: I have set it in the midst of the nations] I have made this city the most eminent and the most illustrious in the world. Some think that these words refer to its geographical situation, as being equally in the centre of the habitable world. But any point on a globe is its centre, no matter where laid down; and it would not be difficult to show that even this literal sense is tolerably correct. But the point which is the centre of the greatest portion of land that can be exhibited on one hemisphere is the capital of the British empire. See my Sermon on the universal spread of the Gospel.
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 vv5, 7, 10, 12, 15 Eze 5:5-6. Thus saith the Lord, This is Jerusalem…
Eze 5:5-6. Thus saith the Lord, This is Jerusalem — Here the explication of the foregoing type is given, namely, that the hair to be shaved off signified Jerusalem, which was to be destroyed. I have set it in the midst of the nations — I set Jerusalem in the midst of the heathen nations, that it might be a pattern of religion and virtue to them: that the Egyptians, Syrians, Arabians, &c., might take example from her. Jerusalem was set in the midst of the nations to be as the heart in the human body, to invigorate the dead world with a divine life, as well as to enlighten the dark world with a divine light. And she hath changed my judgments into wickedness — Instead of following my judgments, and the precepts I gave her for the conduct of life, she hath given herself up to wickedness. More than the nations — She hath sinned against clearer light and stronger convictions of duty than the heathen nations, and therefore has contracted greater guilt, and deserved greater punishment than they. And my statutes more than the countries round about her — None of the countries round about had the statutes of Jehovah delivered to them, for he made known his statutes only to Israel: the meaning of this therefore must be, that the nations round about were more observant of the statutes and precepts delivered to them by men than the Israelites were of those delivered to them by God. Thus we find from Jeremiah, that the Rechabites were much more observant of the precepts (though no easy ones) which their father or first founder enjoined them, than the Israelites were of the commandments given them by God.
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 vv5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 12, 13 I have set it in the midst of the…
I have set it in the midst of the nations - It was not unusual for nations to regard the sanctuary, which they most revered, as the center of the earth. In the case of the holy land this was both natural and appropriate. Egypt to the south, Syria to the north, Assyria to the east and the Isles of the Gentiles in the Great Sea to the west, were to the Jew proofs of the central position of his land in the midst of the nations (compare Jer 3:19). The habitation assigned to the chosen people was suitable at the first for separating them from the nations; then for the seat of the vast dominion and commerce of Solomon; then, when they learned from their neighbors idol-worship, their central position was the source of their punishment. Midway between the mighty empires of Egypt and Assyria the holy land became a battlefield for the two powers, and suffered alternately from each as for the time the one or the other became predominant.
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 vv5, 7, 9, 10, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17 Midst, distinguished above the rest. Many have supposed that…
Midst, distinguished above the rest. Many have supposed that the city was in the exact middle of Palestine, or of the world, Psalm lxxiii. 12. (Calmet)
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 vv5–17 Explanation of the symbols:
Explanation of the symbols:
Jerusalem--not the mere city, but the people of Israel generally, of which it was the center and representative.
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in . . . midst--Jerusalem is regarded in God's point of view as center of the whole earth, designed to radiate the true light over the nations in all directions. Compare Margin ("navel"), Eze 38:12; Psa 48:2; Jer 3:17. No center in the ancient heathen world could have been selected more fitted than Canaan to be a vantage ground, whence the people of God might have acted with success upon the heathenism of the world. It lay midway between the oldest and most civilized states, Egypt and Ethiopia on one side, and Babylon, Nineveh, and India on the other, and afterwards Persia, Greece, and Rome. The Phœnician mariners were close by, through whom they might have transmitted the true religion to the remotest lands; and all around the Ishmaelites, the great inland traders in South Asia and North Africa. Israel was thus placed, not for its own selfish good, but to be the spiritual benefactor of the whole world. Compare Psa 67:1-7 throughout. Failing in this, and falling into idolatry, its guilt was far worse than that of the heathen; not that Israel literally went beyond the heathen in abominable idolatries. But "corruptio optimi pessima"; the perversion of that which in itself is the best is worse than the perversion of that which is less perfect: is in fact the worst of all kinds of perversion. Therefore their punishment was the severest. So the position of the Christian professing Church now, if it be not a light to the heathen world, its condemnation will be sorer than theirs (Mat 5:13; Mat 11:21-24; Heb 10:28-29).
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 vv5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 17 5-11. Here begins the divine interpretation of this picture-sermon.…
5-11. Here begins the divine interpretation of this picture-sermon. Jehovah declares that it is because Jerusalem, which was the most highly favored of all cities, has exceeded all in wickedness, that its punishment is so unparalleled. It is for this reason that it shall be destroyed by famine and pestilence and sword, and shall become a lesson to the nations of God’s just and furious wrath, as it has been a distinguished example of his love and mercy.
5. In the midst of the nations — The mediaeval geographies made Palestine the center of the world, and the exact “navel of the earth” is yet pointed out in Jerusalem. This is foolish, but the fact remains that in ancient times the Holy Land was in a peculiar sense “in the midst of the nations,” with Egypt to the south, Arabia and the Mesopotamian powers to the east, Phoenicia to the north, and the isles of the Greeks to the west.
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(Introduction to Daniel, III, 4.)
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 vv5–17 5. This is Jerusalem] Or, this Jerusalem—I set it!…
5. This is Jerusalem] Or, this Jerusalem—I set it! (Exo_32:1; Eze_40:45). Jerusalem is placed emphatically at the head of the sentence; the thoughts which the name suggests are then developed in the succeeding clauses.
countries that are round] Rather: nations; and countries are round about her. The geographical position of Jerusalem in the midst of the nations, distinct from them all, was but the external side of the exclusive favours bestowed on her by God. She should have been distinguished above the nations in righteousness, but her corruption was become deeper than theirs. Comp. on the idea of the central position of Jerusalem and Canaan, ch. Eze_38:12—“the navel of the earth.”
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5–17. Explanation of the four preceding symbols
Jerusalem, set in the midst of the nations and favoured of God above them all, has even exceeded them in wickedness (Eze_5:5-6). Therefore God’s judgments upon her shall be unparalleled in severity, first in the horrors of the siege, and secondly in the terrible miseries of pestilence, famine and blood that shall follow it (Eze_5:7-17).
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 vv5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 11, 13 (5) I have set it in the midst of…
(5) I have set it in the midst of the nations.—This was eminently true of Jerusalem, and of Israel as represented by Jerusalem, in all the ages of its history. It constituted one of the great opportunities of Israel had they been faithful to their calling, while it became a chief source of their disasters when they went astray from God. On the south were Egypt and Ethiopia; on the north, at first the great nation of the Hittites, and later the Syrians, and also Assyrians (who must reach Palestine from the north); on the coast were the Philistines, at the southern end, and on the northern the Phœnicians, the great maritime nation having intercourse with all “the isles of the sea;” while on the deserts of the east and immediate south were the Ishmaelites, the chief inland traders, who kept up an intercourse by land with all these nations. Even with the great but little-known nations of India, commerce was established by Solomon. Thus centrally situated among the chief kingdoms of antiquity, Israel had the opportunity of presenting to the world the spectacle of a people strong and prosperous in the worship, and under the guardianship, of the one true God, and of becoming the great missionary of monotheism in the ancient world. At the same time they were separated from most of these nations by natural barriers, the deserts on the east and south, the sea on the west, the mountains on the north, which were sufficient to isolate them as a nation, and allow of their free development, without interference, as a God-fearing people. But when, by the unfaithfulness of the Israelites to their religion, the one bond of national unity was weakened, they became a ready prey to the nations around them. During the period of the Judges they fell under the power of one and another of the petty tribes on their confines; and later, when the great empire of Solomon was broken up in consequence of their sins, they were easily overcome by the powerful nations on either side. In all their later history the Israelites were a football between Egypt and Chaldæa, alternately spoiled by tribute as friends or devastated as enemies by each of them. So, in the Divine ordering of the world, responsibility must always be proportioned to privilege; and the failure to fulfil the responsibility leads, as in this case, not only to a withdrawal of the privilege, but to corresponding condemnation.
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 vv5–17 This is Jerusalem, etc. The strange acted parables cease,…
This is Jerusalem, etc. The strange acted parables cease, and we have the unfigurative interpretation. The words that follow point to the central position of Jerusalem in the geography, and therefore in the history, of the ancient East: Egypt to the south, Assyria and Babylon to the north, and in the nearer distance Moabites and Ammonites, and Edomites, and Phoenicians, and Philistines; to all of these Jerusalem might have been as a city set on a hill, as the light of the Gentiles. That had been her ideal position from the first, as in the visions of Mic_4:1 and Isa_2:1 it was to be in its ideal future. The words are not without interest, as probably having suggested the thought, prominent in mediaeval geography (Dante, "Inf.," 34:115, and the Hereford "Mappa Mundi"), that Jerusalem was physically the central point of the earth"s surface. So Moslems believe Mecca to be the earth"s centre, and the Greek word omphalos was applied to Delphi as implying the same belief
A central position.
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Jerusalem was in a central position. Palestine was in the wry midst of the nations. The highway between Assyria and Egypt ran through her territory. Seated on the shores of the Mediterranean, she was midway between the great empires of the East and the mysterious world of the West. England is now in a position like that of ancient Palestine, but with a much larger sweep of circumference. This island looks eastward to Europe and Asia, and it is in the highway from the Old World to America. London is the commercial capital of the world. England, more than any other country, has interests and influence in the four quarters of the globe. Then there are individual men in central positions. This is so of all persons in posts of authority. It is also true in a very real sense of everybody. Each man is the centre of his own horizon; the range of his vision and voice extend in a circle all round him. Throw a stone where you will into a pond, and at once it becomes a centre of spreading circles of wavelets. We are all centres of influence. This central position involves great consequences.
I A HIGH PRIVILEGE. Jerusalem was privileged in her position; so is England today. The products of all the world pone into our markets. The garnered experience of the ages and the wide wealth of thought that grows in many minds are at our disposal. Jerusalem in the days of the prophets had many faults, but narrow mindedness was not one. We see her seated on the great plain of the world"s history. In like manner there is a happy richness, a variety and breadth of knowledge, of which we in England today are able to avail ourselves. As individuals, we are in the midst of many enriching sources. Tennyson"s Ulysses says, "I am a part of all that I have met." We are able to profit by multitudinous influences from many quarters. We should not stultify these influences by parochial narrowness, but welcome and use all the helps God sends, e.g. in good books, inspiriting lives, wise and good public movements.
II A UNIQUE POSITION. Jerusalem was in the midst of the nations, yet she was separate from them. She was not to follow the example of her neighbours. She was called to a unique destiny. Alone knowing the true God, she was to serve him in the full blaze of the world, but in separation from the contamination of neighbouring religions. This is the Christian destiny; not to forsake society and cultivate religion in seclusion, but to live in the world, yet free from the spirit of the world a citizen of heaven residing as God"s ambassador on earth.
III A GREAT MISSION. Jerusalem was planted in the midst of the nations to be a power for good among them. God did not convey his chosen people to some distant "Isles of the Blessed." They were set down in the centre of the great stage of the world"s history. They were a separate people, it is true a sort of Belgium between Egypt and Assyria the France and Germany of those days. But they had their mission in the end, to give the true religion to all nations. England is most advantageously situated for blessing other nations. We of all peoples should be a missionary nation. The Church of Christ is in the midst of the people, not like Noah"s ark, only destined to secure the safety of those shut up inside it, but like leaven put into the, meal to leaven the whole lump. Every Christian Church is in the midst of the people, in a neighbourhood for which it should be a centre of light. So also individual men, according as they are in any sort of central positions, are there for the good they can confer. No life can be pure in its purpose or strong in its strife, and all life not be purer and stronger thereby.
IV A HEAVY RESPONSIBILITY. Jerusalem is called to account. England will have her day of reckoning. We shall all be judged, especially as to our conduct in places of privilege and influence.
1. We are responsible for our privileges. Assyria was not judged as Judaea; Africa and England will not be measured by the same standard. Much is expected of them to whom much has been given.
2. We are responsible for our influence. The effects of our work, word, and example will come back upon our own heads in blessings or in curses.
V A SHAMEFUL FAILURE. Jerusalem missed her great mission and fell from her high estate. The fall of favoured Palestine is a warning to favoured England. It is possible to have every advantage and yet to make shipwreck. Then the bigger the ship the greater the wreck. There is something inspiriting in the thought of a mission. It helps one to make the, best use of life. The idea that we are useless will certainly lead to indifference and paralyze our energies. But to accept a place of influence and its privileges and then to fall, is the most culpable of all things.
HOMILIES BY J.R. THOMSON Vers. 5, 6. Privileges abused.
Himself an exile, and far from the city which was the glory of his nation and the seat of the worship of his God, Ezekiel nevertheless felt keenly and bitterly the reproach which was coming upon the metropolis, the ruin which the sins of her kings and her citizens had brought upon her, the forsaking of her God, her abandonment to her foes. Yet he would not question the justice discernible in these calamities. Jerusalem was her own enemy and her own destruction.
I THE PECULIAR AND PRE-EMINENT ADVANTAGES OF JERUSALEM.
1. Political. "Beautiful for situation, the joy of the whole earth," was Mount Zion. "In the midst of the nations, and the countries are round about her." The commanding position of the city of the great King strikes every beholder who looks at its walls and towers from the hill of Olivet, over the intervening valley. And whoever studies the map will recognize how central a station Jerusalem occupies: "Egypt to the south, Syria to the north, Assyria to the east, and the isles of the Gentiles in the Great Sea to the west." There were providential purposes in the selection of such a site, and in the consequent contact of the Jewish state, now with one neighbour and anon with another. What lessons Judah might learn from such associations!
2. Religious. In this regard, what nation of antiquity could compare with the Hebrew people? In Jewry God was known; his Name was great in Israel. God dealt not so with any people. In Jerusalem stood the temple, where sacrifices were offered and festivals were celebrated. Here lived and ministered the priests, who maintained the visible intercourse between God and man; the prophets, who now and again spoke as the representatives of Jehovah, especially in critical times, and whose words were often as the fire, and as the hammer that breaketh the rock in pieces; the scribes, whose profession it was to preserve and to expound the Law of God for the enlightenment and admonition of the people. Signal were the privileges enjoyed by Jerusalem, and by the people who gloried in Jerusalem as their metropolis.
II THE ABUSE OF PRIVILEGES WITH WHICH JERUSALEM WAS CHARGEABLE. By his prophet the Lord brought home this fault to the guilty nation. Jerusalem is charged:
1. With rejection of God and of his judgments.
2. With rebellion in doing wickedness.
3. With error from God"s ways.
The language is strong, but not too strong for the case, for the circumstances. The Eternal was Israel"s King; and his lawful subjects, though distinguished by his favour and exalted to honour by his clemency and condescension, had turned against the Sovereign to whom they owed everything that they possessed and gloried in. In the circumstances, reprobation could not be too severe.
III COMPARISON WITH OTHER CITIES AND OTHER NATIONS ENHANCED THE GUILT OF JERUSALEM.
1. Their privileges had been inferior in kind and fewer in number.Politically, indeed, they were in several instances great; but religiously they stood upon a distinctly lower level than did the Jews.
2. Their guilt was not so enormous. These nations round about sinnedindeed, but they sinned against the light of nature, not against the clearer light of revelation. They did not break the written Law, for they did not possess it; they did not blaspheme Jehovah, for they knew not his Name; they did not despise his prophets, for the prophets were not sent to them.
All these comparisons serve to aggravate the heinous guilt of the people of Judah and Jerusalem. When attention is given to the pre-eminent position of Jerusalem in comparison with surrounding cities and countries, the justice of the denunciations of the prophets is unquestionable.
Jerusalem, Jerusalem, Exalted once on high, Thou favoured home of God on earth, Thou heaven beneath the sky!
IV GOD"S OBSERVATION OF JERUSALEM"S SIN AND FOLLY, AND HIS PURPOSES OF RETRIBUTION.
1. The Lord represents himself as pained by the contempt with whichJerusalem has treated his distinguishing mercy and favour.
2. He is displeased with those who have shown so little appreciation of allthat he has done for their well being.
3. He threatens judgments upon the disobedient, rebellious, and impenitent. T.
Vers. 5-10. Abused privilege produces condign punishment.
This doctrine is repeated and emphasized in myriad forms. It is written, not in sand, but on rock, and written with a pen of steel. If the men of England do not read this lesson, the reason is evident they are wantonly blind.
I WE HAVE HERE AN INSTANCE OF EMINENT PRIVILEGE. Jerusalem was placed in a most central position. What the heart is to the body, what the sun is to the solar system, Palestine was among ancient empires. Hers was special advantage for getting good and for doing good. She was within easy reach of the civilization of Egypt, the martial power of Babylon, the science and art of Greece, the commercial enterprise of Phoenicia, the law making might of Rome. On every side there were patterns to be imitated, follies to be avoided. Of all the intellectual, moral, and commercial life of primitive man, the Jews occupied a central place. Intercourse between the distant nations passed, in large measure, through Palestine. Hence she had splendid opportunities for diffusing the light of true religion far and wide. Inquirers after God ought to have found at Jerusalem a solution of all their doubts.
II PRIVILEGE ENTAILS RESPONSIBILITY. Every man lives under the wise and righteous government of God, and every possession he holds he holds in trust. He is a steward, who holds and uses his Master"s goods. In proportion to the good he enjoys is the service he is required to render. Forevery faculty of body and of mind, forevery special advantage and gift, he is accountable to his Maker. God has never intended that any donation of his should terminate in the man himself. We receive in order that we may give. The wealthy man has more service to render than the poor man. The sage has more to account for than the fool. A man is not in the same position morally at the close of the sabbath as at the dawn. He must, in the nature of things, be either better or worse forevery advantage he obtains. The tree that does not bear good fruit is something worse than useless. Each man adds something to the piety, or to the impiety, of the age. As God had dowered the Hebrews with special privilege, he rightly expected from them fruitful service.
III RESPONSIBILITY ABUSED CREATES DEADLY SIN. The sin of the Hebrews was inexcusable. They rebelled against the light the light of nature, the light of conscience, the light of supernatural revelation.
1. There was base neglect. God had made known to them his infallible wisdom; but they preferred their own foolishness. God had deigned to weigh difficult matters for them, and to give them the benefit of his superior judgment; but they refused to follow. They would, at all risks, fling off restraint, and yield to none but self.
2. There was positive perversion of Gods goodness. They changed his judgments into wickedness. They made even religious ordinances an occasion of sin. They transmuted truth into falsehood, the house of prayer into a den of thieves. Better, far better, not to have the sabbath, than to profane its sacred hours. Better not to have a message of kindness than to treat it with scorn.
3. Their guilt was extraordinary. It exceeded that of the nations round about them. While they enjoyed special restraints, they not only went to the same lengths of profane idolatry as other nations, they went beyond them! Although the fact of one spiritual Deity was clearly made known among them, yet they borrowed the idol deities of every adjacent nation, until their Reprover could declare, "According to the number of thy cities are thy idols, O Israel!
4. Public warnings were lost upon them. That God had spoken by the mouth of prophets was clear, because their predictions had come to pass. That God was uniformly faithful in maintaining his Word, no sane mind could question. His judgments had fallen, like hail, upon all the surrounding empires, and manifestly, because of idolatry; therefore nothing short of sheer insensibility of mind prevented their taking heed. What more could God do for them, to bring them to repentance, than he had done? Every mouth is silent. Their guilt had come to a head, had reached a final climax.
IV SPECIAL GUILT BEARS ITS PROPER FRUITAGE OF PUNISHMENT. It is not possible that anything can sever the link between sin and punishment. That link has been wrought by Eternal Justice.
1. This punishment should manifestly proceed from God. "They shall know that I the Lord have spoken it," etc. Too often men regard their sufferings as chance effects, misfortunes that have come about in a haphazard way. Not so here. Even those who would not believe that God had done them former kindness, and sent them faithful monitors even these shall be compelled to feel that this punishment is from God. It shall be so public, so severe, so intimately connected with the sin, so precisely in accordance with prophetic warning, that God shall at length be acknowledged as the righteous Author. So self-willed are some children that nothing but the rod will induce submission.
2. This retribution shall be public. Though the sin be done in secret, the chastisement shall be public. In every age, impartial justice has sought the fullest light for its deeds. Among the ancients, law was administered, and wisely so, in the gate. God has nothing to conceal. To the extent that his creatures have capacity to understand, he is prepared to reveal. It is his intention that the universe shall behold the retributions of guilt and be awed thereby. The destruction of one may thus turn to the salvation of many.
3. This punishment shall be extremely severe. "I will do in thee that which I have not done, and whereunto I will not do any more the like," etc. Yet, though severe, it was not too severe. It was not more severe than the case required. The cause of justice would not have been satisfied with less. When God holds the scales, punishment will be exact; it will neither be too great nor too lenient. Guilt is proportionate to previous advantage, and retribution is in precise measure with guilt. If we prove unfaithful, the higher we have been lifted up by acts of kindness, the deeper will be our fall. Capernaum and Bethsaida deserve a heavier sentence than Tyre and Sidon. "There are first that shall be last.
4. The guilty are to be the executors of their own fate. "The fathers shall eat the sons and the sons shall eat their fathers." The famine shall press sore; but this is not the worst feature in the doom. Natural affection shall so decay that the father will not shrink from slaying his own boy, and feeding on the human flesh. Sons shall be so far lost to filial reverence that they will do the like to their fathers. When once love to our heavenly Father is dead, love to our natural kin soon decays. Man, cut off from God, becomes a monster. The beasts of the field never sink so low as man does in his last depravity. It is an impressive fact that guilty men often execute God"s judgments upon themselves, while yet they know it not. A heavenly glory emanates from the cross of Jesus Christ, but eternal shame encircles forever the gallows of Judas. D.
Vers. 5-17. Pre-eminent privilege, perversity, and punishment.
saith the Lord God; This is Jerusalem," etc. In these and some succeeding verses we have the interpretation of the symbolism of the previous part of the chapter; or "an authoritative commentary on the preceding allegory." The text presents to our notice
I A POSITION OF PRE-EMINENT PRIVILEGE. "Thus saith the Lord God; This is Jerusalem: I have set it in the midst of the nations and countries that are round about her." The position here stated may be viewed:
1. Geographically. We are not to interpret this as asserting that Jerusalem was situated in the centre of the earth. But Palestine really occupied "a central position with regard to that group, or those groups, of nations which to it practically constituted the world." On the north of it was Syria, on the south Egypt, on the east Assyria, on the west Europe. "It stood midway between the two great seats of ancient empire, Babylon and Egypt." And, as Fairbairn observes, "viewing the world as it existed at the time of Israel"s settlement in Canaan, and for a thousand years afterwards, we believe it would be impossible to fix upon a single region so admirably fitted, at once to serve as a suitable dwelling place for such a people, and to enable them, as from a central and well chosen vantage ground, to act with success upon the heathenism of the world.
2. Religiously. The Israelites were placed in the midst of the nations, as in a position of honour by their possession of higher and fuller religious privileges. They had been blessed with more illustrious men than other nations; mightier and more wonderful deeds had been done for them than for any other people; a clearer and brighter revelation of God had been given to them; a purer and nobler worship had been instituted amongst them.
3. Influentially. The Israelites had been thus favoured and stationed, in order that they might be a blessing to other nations. Not selfishly were they to enjoy their privileges, but for the benefit of others. Their light was to shine for the illumination of other peoples. They were specially blessed, that others might be blessed through them. With unmistakable clearness is this expressed in the sixty-seventh psalm: "God be merciful unto us, and bless us; and cause his face to shine upon us; that thy way may be known upon earth," etc.. (cf. Deu_4:5-8; Joh_4:22) In like manner, Christians are called to be "the salt of the earth," and "the light of the world;" and they are exhorted, "Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven". (Mat_5:13-16; cf. 1Pe_2:9)
II SINS OF PRE-EMINENT WICKEDNESS.
1. Their rejection of Gods commands, "She hath changed my judgments into wickedness more than the nations," etc. (vers. 6, 7). The word "judgment" is here equivalent to "commands" or "ordinances." Two degrees of rebellion against the Divine will are clearly indicated.
(1) Disobedience of Divine commands. "They have refused my judgments and my statutes, they have not walked in them Ye have not walked in my statutes, neither have kept my judgments.
(2) Hostility to the Divine commands. "She hath changed my judgments into wickedness" is not an accurate translation. Hengstenberg renders it, "She opposed my judgments worse than the heathen;" and Schroder, "She quarreled with my judgments more wickedly than the (heathen) nations." The spirit of disobedience had grown daring and defiant. The seventh verse presents the same idea: "Ye multiplied more than the nations that are round about you." Here also the translation is incorrect. Hengstenberg, "Ye raged more than the heathen who are round about you." There is a reference to Psa_2:1, "Why do the heathen rage?" The chosen people had grown more fierce in their rebellion against God, even than the heathen nations.
1. Their desecration of Gods sanctuary. "Thou hast defiled my sanctuary with all thy detestable things, and with all thine abominations" (ver. 11). Heathen idols, altars, and ceremonies had been introduced into the temple and worship of the Lord Jehovah. We have some account of these abominations in ch. 8. and 2Ki_16:10-18 2Ki_23:4-14. The favoured Israelites had corrupted their highest and holiest things.
2. Their exceeding even the heathen in wickedness. "She quarrelled with my judgments more wickedly than the (heathen) nations," etc. (ver. 6); "Ye raged more than the (heathen) nations which are round about you" (ver. 7). In two ways the house of Israel had exceeded the heathen in wickedness,
(1) Because they sinned against greater and clearer light. The heathen had the light of conscience, "the law written in their hearts"; (Rom_2:14, Rom_2:15) but Israel had the Law in statutes and ordinances. The will of God had been made known to them by lawgiver and seer, by poet and prophet. They sinned against the Law of God, both as spoken within themselves and as proclaimed by inspired men.
(2) Because their standard of moral attainment was lower than that of the heathen. "Neither have ye done according to the judgments of the nations that are round about you." The charge conveyed in these words seems to be" that the Israelites have not even been as faithful to their one true God as the nations have been to their false gods." The heathen clung to their worthless idols, while Israel forsook the living God, who had so mightily wrought for them and so richly blessed them. (cf. Jer_2:11-13) Thus mournfully had the exalted people fallen; thus wickedly had the highly favoured people rebelled against their gracious Lord God.
III PUNISHMENT OF PRE-EMINENT SEVERITY. "Therefore thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I, even I, am against thee, and will execute judgments in the midst of thee in the sight of the nations," etc.
1. The great Agent in this punishment. Jehovah represents himself as inflicting every form of the dread judgment upon his sinful people. From ver. 8 unto the end of the chapter, every verse contains a distinct statement showing that the punishments were to proceed from him. He is the great Agent throughout. The Chaldeans were but instruments unconsciously working out his purposes. How inexpressibly terrible is it when the Lord God declares, "I, even I, am against thee"! When he is against any one, what can profit such a one? When he makes bare his arm for judgment, who can stand against its strokes?
2. The nature of this punishment. It takes three chief forms.
(1) Famine. "A third part of thee shall die with the pestilence, and with famine shall they be consumed in the midst of thee" (vers. 12, 16, 17). And the famine was to be of dread severity, bringing in pestilence and leading of the most horrible cannibalism (ver. 10). It is to be feared that such revealing actions were not infrequent in the sieges of antiquity. (cf. Lev_26:29; Deu_28:53; 2Ki_6:28, 2Ki_6:29; Jer_19:9; Lam_2:20)
(2) Sword. "A third part shall fall by the sword round at out thee". (cf. ver. Jer_15:2, Jer_15:3)
(3) Dispersion. "And I will scatter a third part into all the winds." The majority were carried captives into Chaldea; some were "scattered abroad and dispersed among the people in all the provinces of the Persian empire;" (Est_3:8 Est_9:2) and others went down into Egypt. (Jer_43:4-7) And even when thus scattered, it is said of them, "And I will draw out a sword after them," indicating that even in the country of their exile the Divine judgments would still afflict them.
1. The retributionary character of this punishment. We have seen (in vers. 6, 7) how resolutely the Israelites had set themselves against the Lord God: "Therefore thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I, even I, am against thee." He had set them "in the midst of the nations," to be an example unto them of his righteousness and kindness; they had utterly tailed in this respect; therefore he "will execute judgments in the midst of them in the sight of the nations," and they shall be an example of his righteous retributions. Again, they had exceeded the heathen in wickedness, and he would bring upon them judgments exceeding in their severity anything before or after. (cf. ver. Mat_24:21) This retributionary character of the Divine dealings is affirmed by the prophets, (Isa_3:10, Isa_3:11) by our Lord, (Mat_10:32, Mat_10:33) and by St. Paul. (Gal_6:7, Gal_6:8; 2Ti_2:12)
2 The exemplary aspect of this punishment. "I will make thee waste, and a reproach among the nations that are round about thee, in the sight of all that pass by," etc. (vers. 14, 15). The design of the Lord in placing his people in the land which he gave unto them was that they should be patterns of excellence to the neighbouring nations; too often they had been the opposite of this; for this reason he would make them, as the bearers of his wrath, a warning (Authorized Version, "instruction") to those nations. They would not be patterns, therefore they shall be beacons. If they who have extraordinary privileges fail to walk in a manner worthy of them, God will probably make them a warning to less-favoured peoples, by reason of the just judgments which overtake them. The punishment which some suffer because of their sins should powerfully admonish others that they sin not.
3 The awful certainty of the punishment. This is stated with great impressiveness. "As I live, saith the Lord God; Surely, because thou hast defiled my sanctuary," etc. (ver. 11). And at the close of the dread announcements of this chapter, we have the solemn asseveration, "I the Lord have spoken it." Thus "God subscribes the threatening with the royal monogram of his Name." By his own existence, and his own Word, the Lord binds himself to fulfil the awful declarations of this chapter. Nothing is more certain than this, that the sinner, unless he forsake his sins, must receive the righteous retribution of them. God"s Word declares this; his holiness necessitates it, and human experience confirms it.
CONCLUSION. Our subject is charged with solemn admonition to those who have great privileges. Our advantages involve corresponding obligations; and unless they are faithfully improved, they will be to us the occasion of terrible condemnation. W.J. (cf. Mat_11:20-24; Luk_12:47, Luk_12:48)
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 vv5, 11, 13 This is Jerusalem: I have set it in the…
Eze_5:5
This is Jerusalem: I have set it in the midst of the nations.
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Jerusalem in the midst of the nations
Jerusalem was designed to have a good influence upon the nations and countries round about, and was set in the midst of them as a candle upon a candlestick to spread the light of Divine revelation, which she was blessed with, to all the dark corners of the neighbouring nations, that from them it might diffuse itself further, even to the ends of the earth. Jerusalem was set in the midst of the nations, to be as the heart in the body, to invigorate this dead world with a Divine life, to be an example of everything that is good. (M. Henry.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Paul E. Kretzmann 1924 · Public Domain On v5 The Interpretation of the Sign
The Interpretation of the Sign
v. 5. Thus saith the Lord God, This is Jerusalem, the exalted city of the Lord’s habitation; I have set it in the midst of the nations and countries that are round about her, the center of the true worship, from which rays go forth to all the world.
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v. 6. And she hath changed My judgments, the decrees of the Lord concerning justice and righteousness, into wickedness more than the nations, the people heaping upon themselves a greater guilt than the very heathen, and My statutes more than the countries that are round about her, in an utter disregard of the Lord’s will; for they have refused My judgments and My statutes, they have not walked in them. Israel, hating and rejecting the way of justice and righteousness pointed out by the Lord, preferred to follow the evil, sinful customs of the heathen. Cf.Ezekiel 11:12.
v. 7. Therefore, thus saith the Lord God, Because ye multiplied more than the nations that are round about you, raving and raging in their transgressions of His holy will, and have not walked in My statutes, in bringing their whole life into agreement with their demands, neither have kept My judgments, neither have done according to the judgments of the nations that are round about you, who, at least in a measure, tried to follow the dictates of the Moral Law in the faint impressions still remaining in their hearts, Rom 2:14-16,
v. 8. therefore thus saith the Lord God, Behold, I, even I, am against thee, setting Himself against the Jewish nation in stern opposition, and will execute judgments in the midst of thee in the sight of the nations, as a spectacle of His avenging justice.
v. 9. And I will do in thee that which I have not done, punishing in a degree heretofore unheard of, and whereunto I will not do any more the like, never repeating a like punishment upon men, because of all thine abominations, because Israel had exceeded the heathen in every form of wickedness.
v. 10. Therefore the fathers shall eat the Sons in the midst of thee, in a most revolting form of cannibalism, and the sons shall eat their fathers, utterly forgetful, like them, of the fundamental demands of nature, Cf Lev 26:29; Deu 28:53; and I will execute judgments in thee, as shown by the symbolism of the hair, and the whole remnant of thee will I scatter into all the winds, into all parts of the world.
v. 11. Wherefore, as I live, saith the Lord God, in a most solemn form of oath, by His own life and being, Surely, because thou hast defiled My Sanctuary with all thy detestable things, with the various idolatrous customs and the false worship introduced from time to time, and with all thine abominations, Cf 2Ch 36:14, therefore will I also diminish thee, neither shall Mine eye spare, literally, "and also I shall withdraw—and not have mercy -Mine eye," neither will I have any pity.
v. 12. A third part of thee, corresponding to the first third of the hair of the prophet, shall die with the pestilence, and with famine shall they be consumed in the midst of thee, during the course of the siege of the city and when it was taken; and a third part shall fall by the sword round about thee, as indicated in the second part of the symbolical action; and I will scatter a third part into all the winds, among various provinces and nations; and I will draw out a sword after them, to complete His vengeance upon them.
v. 13. Thus shall Mine anger be accomplished, the full measure of His wrath be exhausted upon the Jewish nation, and I will cause My fury to rest upon them, so that it would be satisfied in the punishment meted out, and I will be comforted, feeling this satisfaction; and they shall know that I, the Lord, have spoken it in My zeal, as a guarantee of His sincerity in making His threats, when I have accomplished My fury in them, carrying out His punishment upon them in full.
v. 14. Moreover, I will make thee waste, so that the city would be changed to a heap of ruins, and a reproach among the nations that are round about thee, so that people everywhere would mock and deride her, Cf Deu 29:23-24, in the sight of all that pass by.
v. 15. So it, Jerusalem, the former proud capital city, shall be a reproach and a taunt, an instruction, an example of warning to teach people a lesson, and an astonishment unto the nations that are round about thee when I shall execute judgments in thee in anger and in fury and in furious rebukes, in chastisements of his divine indignation. I, the Lord, have spoken it.
v. 16. When I shall send upon them the evil arrows of famine, such as hail, rain, mice, locusts, mildew, Deu 32:23-24, which shall be for their destruction, and which I will send to destroy you; and I will increase the famine upon you, gathering its forces like those of an invading army, to work havoc on every hand, and will break your staff of bread, upon which men ordinarily lean for support and sustenance of life;
v. 17. so will I send upon you famine and evil beasts, Lev 26:22, and they shall bereave thee; and pestilence, in various severe epidemics, and blood shall pass through thee, in slaughter by the Chaldean invaders; and I will bring the sword upon thee, here chiefly in civil war. I, the Lord, have spoken it. There is special emphasis in the repetition of this statement and in the heaping of terms denoting the severity of the Lord’s punishment, also in the change from the second to the third person, as though the Lord were becoming increasingly estranged from His own people. His avenging fury strikes men with deadly effect, no matter in what form He sends it.
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 vv5, 7, 9, 11, 13, 15 General Information:
General Information:
Yahweh continues to speak.
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Lord Yahweh
See how you translated this in Ezekiel 2:4.
This is Jerusalem
"This carving represents Jerusalem" (Ezekiel 4:1)
in the midst of the nations
Possible meanings are 1) other nations were on all sides of Jerusalem or 2) "more important than all other nations."
I have placed her
Jerusalem is referred to as "her" and "she." (See: Personification)
other lands
"the neighboring countries" or "the countries around her"
The people have rejected my judgments
"The people of Israel and Jerusalem have refused to obey my judgments."
translationWords
Lord Yahweh
Jerusalem
reject
decree
evil
nation
statute
walk
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 vv5, 7, 10 5:5-6 The reason for God’s judgment on his people…
5:5-6 The reason for God’s judgment on his people is made abundantly clear: Israel had broken its covenant relationship with God.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.