18:31 get…a new heart. The key to life eternal and triumph over death is conversion. This involves repentance from sin (vv. 30, 31a) and receiving the new heart which God gives with a new spirit, wrought by the Holy Spirit (36:24–27; Jer. 31:34; John 3:5–8).
18:32 I have no pleasure. The death of His saints is precious to God (Ps. 116:15). By contrast, He has no such pleasure when a person dies without repentance. While God is sovereign in salvation, man is responsible for his own sin. turn and live. This was a call to repent and avoid physical and eternal death (cf. Pss. 23:6; 73:24; Is. 26:19–21; Dan. 12:2, 3, 13). Ezekiel was a preacher of repentance and of God’s offer of mercy to the penitent.
Ezekiel 19
19:1–14 lamentation. This is an elegy in typical lamentation meter (v. 14b), dealing with the captivity of Kings Jehoahaz (609 B.C.) and Jehoiachin (597 B.C.), and the collapse of the Davidic dynasty under Zedekiah (586 B.C.).
19:1 the princes of Israel. This refers to the kings of Judah just mentioned.
19:1–9 What is your mother? Judah is the “lioness,” just as in v. 10 she is the “vine.” Her cubs symbolize kings who were descendants of David exposed to the corrupting influences of heathen kings (“young lions”).
19:3, 4 one of her cubs. This refers to Jehoahaz (Shallum), who ruled in 609 B.C. and was deposed by Egypt’s Pharaoh Necho after reigning only 3 months (v. 4; 2 Kin. 23:32–34; 2 Chr. 36:2).
19:5–9 another of her cubs. This refers to Jehoiachin, who in 597 B.C. was carried to Babylon in a cage as in v. 9 (2 Kin. 24:6–15). Though he reigned only 3 months, he was oppressive and unjust. God used the pagan nations of Egypt and Babylon to judge these wicked kings. The Babylonians kept Jehoiachin imprisoned for 37 years, releasing him at the age of 55 (2 Kin. 25:27–30; Jer. 52:31, 32).
19:10–14 Your mother…like a vine. Judah prospered as a luxuriant vine (v. 10), with strong power and eminence (v. 11). God plucked up the vine in judgment, desolating her (v. 12; cf. 13:11–13), exiling her (v. 13), and leaving no strong king (v. 14).
19:14 a rod. The blame for the catastrophe that came to Judah is laid on one ruler, King Zedekiah who was responsible for the burning of Jerusalem because of his treachery (cf. Jer. 38:20–23). The house of David ended in shame and, for nearly 2,600 years since, Israel has had no king of David’s line. When Messiah came, they rejected Him and preferred Caesar. Messiah still became their Savior and will return as their King.
Ezekiel 20
20:1 the seventh year. Ca. 591 B.C.
20:3–44 elders…come to inquire. Cf. the similarity in 14:1–3. The prophet responds with a message from the Lord that gives a historical survey of Israel, featuring its uniform pattern of sin. Israel rebelled in Egypt (vv. 5–9), then in the wilderness trek (vv. 10–26), and the entry into the Land of Promise (vv. 27–32). Through all this, God kept delivering them to save His reputation (vv. 9, 14, 22). Yet sinful obstinacy finally led to His judging them (vv. 45–49). Verses 33–44 speak of His regathering Israel to their land in the future time of Christ’s Second Advent.
20:5 raised My hand…oath. Cf. vv. 5, 6, 15, 23, 28, 42. God promised Israel deliverance from Egypt (cf. Ex. 6:2–8).
20:25, 26 I…gave them up. God allowed the Jews to live in sin. Cf. v. 32, “We will be like the Gentiles….” Cf. Ps. 81:11, 12; Rom. 1:24–28. Like all human beings, the story of the Jews is one long history of rebellion.
20:34 Paul alludes to this in 2 Cor. 6:17. God will someday rule over Israel in the glorious kingdom of Messiah, after the people have repented and been saved (cf. Zech. 12–14).
20:35 wilderness of the peoples. Other lands where the scattered people of Israel live are pictured as a wilderness in which the Jews will suffer. This is analogous to God’s bringing His people from Egypt through the wilderness long ago, before thrusting them into the Promised Land (v. 36).
20:37 pass under the rod. God used a shepherd figure here, apt since He was their Great Shepherd (34:11–13; Jer. 23:5–8). As a shepherd, God brings His sheep home to their fold (cf. Jer. 33:13), has them file in, separating sheep from goats (cf. Matt. 25), passing under His shepherd’s rod to be noted and checked for injury. He will bring them into the bond of the New Covenant by giving them His Spirit with life (36:24–27; 37:14; 39:29). This is Israel’s final salvation (Rom. 11:26–33).
20:38 I will purge the rebels. God will see that no rebel, no one without the renewing by His Spirit in salvation, will come back to Palestine to have a part in the messianic kingdom. All whom He permits to return will serve Him (v. 40), in contrast to those who serve idols (v. 39). The purging takes place during the “time of Jacob’s trouble” (Jer. 30:7), during the Great Tribulation (Matt. 24:21).
20:39 If they persist in their stubborn idolatry, God will allow them to follow it to their doom. He would also rather have them as out-and-out idolaters rather than hypocritical patronizers of His worship like they had been (cf. Amos 5:21–26).
20:40–42 all…in the land. The promised regathering in Messiah’s earthly kingdom is to the very same land—literal Palestine—from which they were scattered (v. 41), expressly the land given to their fathers (36:28; Gen. 12:7). They will “all” be there, repentant (v. 43) and saved (Rom. 11:26, 27), serving the Lord wholeheartedly, a united nation engaged in purified worship (cf. 27:22, 23; Is. 11:13).
20:44 you shall know. God purposed all of this great restoration so that repentant, renewed Israel knew that He is the Lord, a key theme, as in v. 38. Also, those of other nations will know by this who He is and render Him due reverence (v. 41; 36:23, 36).
Ezek. 20:44
Scope of Ezekiel’s Prophecies
20:46–48 preach against the south. The S is Palestine, particularly Judah, usually invaded from the N. Though Babylonia was to the E (19:12), its army would swing W toward the Mediterranean Sea and then come S out of the N to invade Judah. The invader (Nebuchadnezzar in 586 B.C.) will overwhelm the land as a sweeping fire (cf. 15:1–8; 19:12; Zech. 11:1–3), devouring trees indiscriminately, green or dry (cf. 21:3, 4). Palestine had much more “forest” in biblical times.
20:49 This demonstrates the elders’ (v. 1) refusal to comprehend Ezekiel’s clear message. To the unwilling heart, there was no understanding.
Ezekiel 21
21:1–7 the word…came. This is the sign of the sword against Jerusalem (vv. 1–17). God depicts His judgment in terms of a man unsheathing his polished sword for deadly thrusts. God is the swordsman (vv. 3, 4), but Babylon is His sword (v. 19). The historical background for this prophecy is Nebuchadnezzar’s 588 B.C. campaign to quell revolts in Judah, as well as Tyre and Ammon.
21:3, 4 righteous and wicked. In Babylon’s indiscrimination as an invader, people in the army’s path die, whether righteous or wicked. This occurs from N to S, through the whole span of Israel’s land, tying in with the judgment pictured by fire (20:45–49). Trees green or dry (20:47) probably depict people whether righteous or wicked (21:3, 4; cf. Luke 23:31).
21:8–17 The sword (Babylon) was “sharpened.”
21:10 It despises the scepter. Cf. also v. 13. Possibly this affirmed that God’s sword, so overwhelming in v. 10a, was to despise the Judean royal scepter (cf. Gen. 49:9, 10), which was powerless to stop it and would soon pass away (vv. 25–27). God’s judgment was too strong for this object made of (or partly of) wood, as it holds in contempt all such items of wood. “My son” may refer to Judah (cf. Ex. 4:22, 23), or to the king as God’s “son,” such as was Solomon (1 Chr. 28:6).
21:11 the slayer. God is always the judge and executioner, no matter what He uses.
21:12 strike your thigh. Or it can be translated, “beat your breast.” In either wording, it is an emphatic gesture of grief that the prophet acts out. This accompanies further symbols of grief in his “cry,” “wail” (v. 12), clapping of hands (v. 14), and “beating of fists” (v. 17).
21:18–20 This imagery sees Babylon’s army on the march coming to a crossroads. The sword is the king of Babylon, Nebuchadnezzar, who is fa
ced with a decision. One sign points to Jerusalem and Judah, the other to Rabbah, the capital of Ammon. In 593 B.C. Ammon had conspired with Judah against Babylon. The king had to decide which place to attack, so he sought his gods through divination (v. 21).
21:21 the king…stands…to use divination. This means to “seek an omen,” to gain guidance from superstitious devices (cf. Is. 47:8–15). Three methods are available to Babylon’s leader. He shook arrows and let them fall, then read a conclusion from the pattern. He looked at Teraphim (idols), or examined an animal liver to gain help from his gods. Actually, the true God controlled this superstition to achieve His will, the attack on Jerusalem and Judah. Later, Nebuchadnezzar attacked Rabbah in Ammon E of the Jordan (vv. 28–32).
21:22 All the paraphernalia of war were prepared.
21:23 false divination. The people of Jerusalem thought this superstitious decision was not a true divination and would fail. They were wrong (vv. 24, 25).
21:25 wicked prince. Zedekiah.
21:26 Remove…turban…crown. God, in the coming judgment on Judah in 588–586 B.C., removed the turban representing the priestly leadership, and the crown picturing the succession of kings. Neither office was fully restored after the captivity. This marked the commencement of “the times of the Gentiles” (Luke 21:24).
21:27 Until He comes. The 3-fold mention of “overthrown” expresses the severest degree of unsettled and chaotic conditions. Israel was to experience severe instability and even the kingly privilege will not be Israel’s again until the Messiah comes, “to whom it rightly belongs,” or “whose right it is”(cf. Gen. 49:10). God will give the kingship to Him (cf. Jer. 23:5–8), the greater “David” (Ezek. 37:24). His “right” is that perfect combination of priestly and royal offices (cf. Heb. 5–7).
21:28–32 concerning the Ammonites. The Babylonian armies also were to conquer this people in 582/81 B.C. (cf. 25:1–7). Their “reproach” was the gleeful disdain they heaped on Jerusalem when the city fell, the temple was profaned, and Judeans were taken captive (25:3).
21:30 Return it to its sheath. This called the Ammonites not to resist Babylon, which would be useless, for they would be slaughtered in their own land.
21:32 You shall not be remembered. Israel had a future (v. 27), but God would not give Ammon mercy at the time and let the devastation occur. After this, they were further devastated by Judas Maccabeus’ army, according to an ancient source (1 Macc. 5:6, 7). Later, according to Jeremiah 49:6, God permitted exiles to return to their land. Finally, they disappeared from the family of nations altogether.
Ezekiel 22
22:2 the bloody city. Cf. vv. 3, 4, 6, 9, 12, 13. This refers to Jerusalem because of her judicial murders (vv. 6, 9, 23–27), her sacrifice of children, and her rebellion against Babylon (cf. 24:6).
22:4–13 become guilty. At least 17 kinds of sin appear in this indictment of Jerusalem’s blood guiltiness, and more in vv. 25–29. The only restraint on their evil was their ability. They did all the evil they could, and shedding blood seemed to be the most popular.
22:5 Cf. Rom. 2:24. God links His honor to the behavior of His people.
22:9 eat on the mountains. This meant idol worship which the passage clarifies (v. 4), i.e., eating meals at idol shrines, accompanied by sexual sins, such as those described in vv. 10, 11.
22:14–16 Ezekiel saw not only the punishment in the immediate future, but the worldwide dispersion of the Jews still going on today, which continues for the purging of Israel’s sins.
22:16 then you shall know. After the defiling dispersion, when the sin has been purged, Israel will come to know the Lord. Many Jews do know Him now, but the nation will be saved in the future (cf. Zech. 12–14; Rom. 11:25–27).
22:17–22 bronze, tin, iron, and lead. This pictures God’s judgment of Jerusalem as a smelting furnace (cf. Is. 1:22; Jer. 6:28–30; Zech. 13:9; Mal. 3:2, 3) which burns away dross and impurities, resulting in purified metal. His wrath was the fire (v. 21; an apt term for Babylon’s fiery destruction of the city), and His people were to be refined (v. 20), with the sinful ones removed (cf. 21:13–22). Even in the ultimate day, God will follow this principle in purging His creation of sin (2 Pet. 3:9–14).
22:25–29 conspiracy. The whole nation was wicked. First, all leaders are indicted for their vicious sin: prophets, priests, princes, then the people in general.
22:30 So I sought for a man. Ezekiel and Jeremiah were faithful, but apart from them God sought a man capable of advocacy for Israel when its sin had gone so far. But no one could lead the people to repentance and draw the nation back from the brink of the judgment that came in 586 B.C. (Jer. 7:26, 34; 19:15). Only God’s Messiah, God Himself, will have the character and the credentials sufficient to do what no man can do, intercede for Israel (cf. Is. 59:16–19; 63:5; Rev. 5). He was rejected by them in His earthly ministry, so the effects of this judgment continue today, until they turn to Him in faith (cf. Zech. 12:10; 13:1).
Ezekiel 23
23:2–4 two women. This chap. describes the spiritual infidelity of Israel and Judah, pictured as two sisters, to convey the gravity of sin in Judah. “One mother” refers to the united kingdom, while “two women” refers to the divided kingdom. Oholah, meaning “Her own tabernacle,” as she had her separate dwelling-place apart from the temple, represents Samaria. In the northern kingdom, Jeroboam had set up worship, which God rejected. Oholibah, “My tabernacle is in her,” represents Jerusalem, where God did establish worship.
23:5–10 Oholah played the harlot. The northern kingdom of Israel was a harlot, in a spiritual sense, by seeking union for fulfillment and security with idolatrous, young, wealthy, attractive Assyria. Assyria turned on her (v. 10), conquered her, and deported Israel in 722 B.C. (2 Kin. 17).
23:11–21 more corrupt. Cf. 16:47. The focus is Judah’s (the southern kingdom) craving for Babylonian idolatry that alienated her from God. Judah learned nothing from Israel’s punishment (v. 13).
23:12 Assyrians. Ahaz placed Judah under the protection of Assyria (2 Kin. 16:7–10), a political move denounced by Isaiah (Is. 7:13–17).
23:14–16 Chaldeans. Judah was drawn to portraits of Babylonian men, done in brilliant colors, lusting for the Chaldean lifestyle. Social and political alliance led to spiritual defection.
23:17 into the bed of love. The description portrays spiritual unfaithfulness graphically (v. 30).
23:19 Judah renewed her old sins from the days of Egypt, returning to her first degradation.
23:22–35 stir up your lovers. God’s anger at Judah’s sin prompted His bringing Babylonians and others to deal severely with her. The passage sets forth how Judah’s companion nations were the instruments of her judgment.
23:23 Pekod, Shoa, Koa. Three different Aramean tribes.
23:25 remove your nose…your ears. Atrocities by Babylonians would include facial dismemberment, ancient punishment for an adulteress practiced in Egypt, Chaldea, and elsewhere.
23:32–34 drink of your sister’s cup. Judah was to experience the “cup” of God’s judgment as Samaria had in 722 B.C. (cf. 23:46–49). Often the idea of “drinking a cup” is symbolic of receiving God’s wrath (cf. Ps. 75:8; Is. 51:17–22; Jer. 25:15–29; Matt. 20:22).
23:36–42 The prophet detailed a shameful summary of God’s case against the nation—a double arraignment calling for judgment.
23:45 righteous men. This likely refers to the remnant of godly people in the nation who would affirm the justice of judgment.
Ezekiel 24
24:1, 2 this very day. The time was Jan. 15, 588 B.C. (dating from 597 as in 1:2). The Babylonians began the 18 month siege of Jerusalem (Jer. 39:1, 2; 52:4–12).
24:3–5 utter a parable. The choice cuts of lamb picture God’s flock being boiled in a pot, symbolizing Jerusalem in the heat of the siege. Cf. 11:3. Animal bones were frequently used for fuel.
24:6 Woe to the bloody city. Jerusalem’s populace was guilty of bloody corruption, which was pictured by the boiled scum or rust in the pot
(cf. 22:2).
24:7 her blood. The city’s blood (a general symbol of sin) was blatantly open, not hidden, as depicted by exposure on top of a rock. When blood was not covered with dust, the law was violated (Lev. 17:13). God’s vengeance would come by Babylon’s army.
24:9, 10 the pyre great…cuts be burned up. Intensely provoked by sin, God wanted Ezekiel to picture the fire as furious judgment that kills the people.
24:11, 12 set the pot empty. After all pieces (people) were burned up, then the pot was heated empty. This portrayed the Lord’s thorough follow-through by the besieger to totally destroy the city and the temple, with all its residue (cf. the treatment of a leprous house in Lev. 14:34–45).
24:16–27 Ezekiel’s wife died as a sign to Israel. All personal sorrow was eclipsed in the universal calamity. Just as Ezekiel was not to mourn the death of his wife (v. 17), so Israel was not to mourn the death of her families (vv. 19–24). Though the text emphasizes how precious his wife was, the “desire of his eyes” (vv. 16, 21), his “boast” and “delight” (v. 21), he was obedient and submitted to God’s will. He became a heartbreaking sign to his people.
24:25 in the day. This refers to the destruction of the temple.
24:26, 27 on that day. One who escaped the destruction of Jerusalem (586 B.C.) would come to Ezekiel in Babylon and report the story. From that day forward, he was to be silent until the captives arrived; then he could speak of Judah (cf. 3:26, 27). This was about a two year period (cf. 33:21; Jer. 52:5–7), when there was no need to preach judgment because it had come. He did speak of other nations (as recorded beginning in chap. 25).
Ezekiel 25
25:1 The word of the LORD came. Ezekiel 25:1—32:32 proclaims judgments on 7 other nations, similar to the series in Jer. 46–51. Four of them are singled out in this chap. for vindictive jealousy and hate toward Israel. It is fitting, after devoting chaps. 1–24 to calamity on His chosen nation, that God should reveal His impartiality toward all sinners and give the prophet judgments to proclaim on Gentiles. Israel’s sinful failure had profaned God’s honor in the eyes of these peoples (36:21–23), but these nations had falsely assumed that, when Israel was exiled, their God was defeated.
The MacArthur Study Bible, NKJV Page 395