Ezekielchapter 20
49 verses · Ezekiel · 593 to 571 BC · The Prophets
And I gave them My statutes and made known to them My ordinances—for the man who does these things will live by them.
Introduction
Ezekiel, The Prophets, Ezekiel Overview.
Ezekiel received this on a day he dated exactly, when the elders of the exile came to his house for a second time to ask a question of God. They expected an answer about the future. The chapter answers with the nation's past instead, told in stages from Egypt to the land. It is one of the longest reviews of Israel's history anywhere in the prophets. Listen for the sign God gave them to keep, and for the reason He gives each time for sparing them. Then listen for the second exodus the chapter promises. It asks a people to see their story as God sees it.
Context
- Who
- Leaders of the exile community asking God a question and being handed their own history instead
- What
- A refusal to be consulted, followed by a review of Israel's rebellion from Egypt to the land and a promise to gather and purify the people.
- Where
- Ezekiel's house at Tel Abib, with the elders of Israel seated before him again.
- When
- The seventh year of the exile, the fifth month, the tenth day, about August 591 BC.
- Why
- To show the elders that Israel had been unfaithful from the start and that God spared them for the sake of His name.
Historical context
The elders sit down to inquire, exactly as in chapter fourteen, and God refuses to be consulted. What He gives instead is a walk through the national story in four stages: in Egypt, in the wilderness with the first generation, in the wilderness with their children, and in the land.
Show the rest of the historical context, 4 more paragraphs
The charge about Egypt is the one nobody expected. Before the plagues, before the exodus, God says He told them to throw away the detestable things their eyes were set on and the idols of Egypt, and they would not. Israel's idolatry is dated earlier than the rescue itself.
The sabbath runs through the chapter as a marker. It is called a sign between God and the people, and it functioned like one: a public, weekly, unmistakable practice that identified who you belonged to, in a world where every other nation's calendar ran on its own gods' festivals.
One sentence in the middle has been argued over for centuries: I gave them statutes that were not good and rules by which they could not live. The traditional reading, followed here, is that God handed them over to the consequences of the practices they insisted on, including the child sacrifice named in the next line, which He explicitly condemns elsewhere as something He never commanded and which never entered His mind. Some read it instead as harsher laws given in discipline; either way the passage does not make God the author of the abomination it goes on to denounce.
The chapter ends with a second exodus: God will bring them out from the peoples with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, and enter into judgment with them face to face in the wilderness of the nations, just as He did in the wilderness of Egypt.
Significance
The elders wanted to know when the exile would end. The answer strips out the assumption underneath the question, that Israel had been basically faithful and had suffered an unfair reverse.
Show the rest of the significance, 1 more paragraph
Yet the reason God gives for not wiping them out is not their merit but His name, so that it would not be profaned in the sight of the nations who watched Him bring them out. That is cold comfort and solid ground at the same time, and it is the exact foundation the restoration promises later in the book are built on.
This chapter in Jewish lifeWhat this chapter is in Jewish life and reading.
What is done
This chapter is read aloud in the synagogue in one rite. The site's table in src/lib/hebraic/readings.ts records Ezekiel 20:2 to 20:20 as the Sephardi Haftarah of Kedoshim, the portion of Leviticus 19:1 to 20:27. The Ashkenazi rite reads Amos 9:7 to 9:15 on that Sabbath instead, and the probe printed the rite as Sephardi.
A congregation that keeps this reading hears the holiness laws of Leviticus from the Torah scroll. Then it hears Ezekiel recount how Israel was given the statutes and the Sabbaths in the wilderness and did not keep them. Rashi's note on the twelfth verse calls the Sabbath a sign, "a phenomenal manifestation that I hallowed them to Myself" (Rashi on Ezekiel 20:12:1).
How it is read
Rashi is the main commentator on this chapter in the corpus. He is quoted here from The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg, which Sefaria reports as CC-BY. The translation is modern, so every quotation from it is fifty words or fewer. The verse numbers in this row are the Hebrew ones the corpus prints. Hebrew 21:1 to 21:5 is English 20:45 to 20:49, and Hebrew 21:6 to 21:37 is English 21:1 to 21:32.
The elders come to inquire, and Rashi gives their argument. God has sold them, and a master who has sold his slave has no claim left on him (Rashi on Ezekiel 20:1:1). God refuses to be inquired of. Rashi sets this beside the end of the book, where God says He will be inquired of by Israel. "This is one of the places that teach us that the Holy One, blessed be He, recants on evil" (Rashi on Ezekiel 20:3:1).
The history the chapter retells begins in Egypt. Rashi says Aaron gave this prophecy to Israel there before God appeared to Moses at the bush (Rashi on Ezekiel 20:7:1). God held back for His name, so that it "should not be desecrated" (Rashi on Ezekiel 20:9:1).
The Sabbath of the twelfth verse is a sign: "I gave the day of My resting to them for a resting" (Rashi on Ezekiel 20:12:1). In the wilderness "They tested Me with the calf" (Rashi on Ezekiel 20:13:1). The children who rebelled in the twenty-first verse are the tribe of Dan and those who joined Baal Peor (Rashi on Ezekiel 20:21:1).
The corpus carries 13 notes on this chapter without an English text, marked linked. Radak's notes stand at 20:2:1, 20:6:1, 20:10:1, 20:11:1, 20:15:1, 20:16:1, 20:17:1, 20:18:1 and 20:24:1. Metzudat David's notes stand at 20:14:1, 20:19:1, 20:20:1 and 20:22:1. Each stands cited and unquoted, because Sefaria holds no English version of the ref.
What the rabbis say
The corpus carries 39 rabbinic locators on the verses of this chapter, 3 filed under the Talmud and 36 under the Midrash. It carries the text of none, so each is cited by ref here and never quoted or paraphrased. The verse numbers are the Hebrew ones the corpus prints.
On verse 1 it holds Midrash Sekhel Tov, Shemot 18:15:1 and Midrash Tanchuma Buber, Nitzavim 7:1. On verse 2 it holds Bamidbar Rabbah 4:5. On verse 3 it holds Midrash Lekach Tov, Numbers 6:26:1 and Midrash Shmuel 7:7. On verse 4 it holds Seder Olam Rabbah 26:1. On verse 5 it holds Bamidbar Rabbah 16:24 and Midrash Lekach Tov, Deuteronomy 32:40:1.
On verse 6 it holds Bamidbar Rabbah 23:7 and Megillah 6a:3. On verse 7 it holds Aggadat Bereshit 17:1 and Aggadat Bereshit 76:1. On verse 8 it holds Midrash Sekhel Tov, Shemot 10:20:7 and Shemot Rabbah 16:2. On verse 9 it holds Mekhilta DeRabbi Shimon Ben Yochai, Additions 6:3. On verse 10 it holds Mekhilta DeRabbi Yishmael, Tractate Shirah 2:18.
On verse 11 it holds Mekhilta DeRabbi Shimon Ben Yochai 16:27. On verse 13 it holds Bamidbar Rabbah 5:6. On verse 14 it holds Ein Yaakov (Glick Edition), Sanhedrin 2:17. On verse 16 it holds Bereshit Rabbati, Parashat Vayishlach 26. On verse 17 it holds Midrash Sekhel Tov, Bereshit 45:20:1.
On verse 20 it holds Bamidbar Rabbah 10:1. On verse 21 it holds Pesikta Rabbati 27:1. On verse 24 it holds Aggadat Bereshit 74:1. On verse 25 it holds Berakhot 24b:19. On verse 26 it holds Yalkut Shimoni on Torah 214:1.
On verse 28 it holds Shemot Rabbah 2:5. On verse 31 it holds Bamidbar Rabbah 11:7. On verse 32 it holds Bamidbar Rabbah 2:16. On verse 33 it holds Ein Yaakov, Rosh Hashanah 4:6. On verse 34 it holds Yalkut Shimoni on Torah 750:13.
On verse 37 it holds Ein Yaakov, Nedarim 2:1. On verse 38 it holds Bamidbar Rabbah 15:12. On verse 39 it holds Ein Yaakov, Khagigah 2:19. On verse 40 it holds Chullin 135b:8. On verse 41 it holds Midrash Aggadah, Exodus 25:3:4.
On verse 42 it holds Midrash Tehillim 4:9. On verse 44 it holds Bereshit Rabbati, Parashat Vayetze 51. On verse 47 it holds Midrash Tehillim 73:3.
The corpus also files one entry from a modern study, Learning to Read Midrash, on verse 23. It is left out of the list above because it is not a saying of the rabbis.
What each of them teaches is a saying of the rabbis, and is reported as theirs wherever this site quotes one. The quotations wait on a fetch that carries the text.
Sources: Rashi, Rashi on Ezekiel 20:1:1 to 20:21:1, The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg, reported CC-BY; Radak, Radak on Ezekiel 20:2:1 to 20:24:1, cited by ref only: Sefaria holds no English version of the ref; Metzudat David, Metzudat David on Ezekiel 20:14:1 to 20:22:1, cited by ref only: Sefaria holds no English version of the ref; The Sefaria corpus, scripts/data/sources/sefaria/ezekiel/20.json, the 39 Talmud and Midrash locators on the verses of this chapter; The site's own files, src/lib/hebraic/readings.ts, probed for Ezekiel 20: the Haftarah of Kedoshim, Ezekiel 20:2 to 20:20, rite Sephardi.
The heads below are this chapter's scenes. The numbered points under each are its verses.
Elders come to inquire; God tells them about Egypt
Ezekiel 20:1-4
The answer refuses the request outright, as I live, saith the Lord God, I will not be enquired of by you. Gill notes that the refusal is not silence but a summons to a longer accounting, the historical rehearsal that fills the rest of the chapter.
Ezekiel 20:1
“Since therefore they were agitated between hope and fear, and the devil scattered false prophecies which distracted the minds of the vulgar, it is probable that the elders of Israel came and were sent to inquire concerning either the prosperous or disastrous event of their captivity.”
John Calvin · Commentaries (1554)reformed
1 more voice on this verseWhat preachers and commentators have said about this verse, in their own words.
Ezekiel 20:1
“The elders of Israel - These were as in Eze 14:1, some of Ezekiel’s fellow-exiles, designated in general terms by the name of Israel, though more properly belonging to the kingdom of Judah.”
the word of the LORD came to me: Jerome counts eleven months and five days from the vision of 8:1 to this word. The date of verse 1 falls in the seventh year of the exile of Jehoiachin. The reply to the elders follows.
Have you come to inquire of Me?: Henry reads the question as a rebuke to men who thought they honoured God by their inquiries while they kept their idols. The same refusal met the elders of 14:3. Their idols stood in their hearts.
Ezekiel 20:3
“Let them not think that they honoured him by their enquiries, nor expect an answer of peace from him, as long as they continued in love and league with their idols. Note, Those reap no benefit by their religion that are not entire and sincere in it; nor can we have any comfortable communion with God in ordinances of worship unless we be inward and upright with him therein.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Will you judge them: The son of man is to judge the elders by setting the abominations of their fathers before them. Clarke reads the rest of the chapter as one history of Israel and its idols, from Egypt through the wilderness to the land. Jerome records a Septuagint reading of vengeance.
Ezekiel 20:4
“Wilt thou judge them - If thou wilt enter into any discussion with them, show them the abomination of their fathers. The whole chapter is a consecutive history of the unfaithfulness ingratitude, rebellion, and idolatry of the Jews, from the earliest times to that day; and vindicates the sentence which God had pronounced against them, and which he was about to execute more fully in delivering them and the city into the hands of the Chaldeans.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Ezekiel 20:5-6
The Lord dates his own choice of Israel to the day in Egypt when he lifted up his hand, the gesture of a sworn oath. Keil ties the phrase to the same oath formula repeated at verses fifteen and twenty three, the hinge on which the chapter turns.
Ezekiel 20:5
“He made over himself to them as their God in covenant: I lifted up my hand unto them, saying it, and confirming it with an oath. " I am the Lord your God, to whom you are to pay your homage, and from whom and in whom you are to expect your bliss." 4. He promised to bring them out of Egypt; and made good what he promised.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
a land that I had searched out for them: Clarke pictures the LORD going over many lands to find one for His people. The same Hebrew verb describes the spies who searched out the land in Numbers 13. The glory of all lands names its rank.
Ezekiel 20:6
“To bring them forth of the land of Egypt - When they had been long in a very disgraceful and oppressive bondage. A land that I had espied for them - God represents himself as having gone over different countries in order to find a comfortable residence for these people, whom he considered as his children. Flowing with milk and honey - These were the characteristics of a happy and fruitful country, producing without intense labor all the necessaries and comforts of life.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Ezekiel 20:7-9
Even inside Egypt, before the Exodus began, Israel is charged to cast away the idols of Egypt, and even there they rebelled. I wrought for my name's sake states the pattern that recurs three times, mercy granted for the sake of the Lord's reputation among the nations.
Ezekiel 20:7
“Cast ye away - the abominations - Put away all your idols; those incentives to idolatry that ye have looked on with delight.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
they rebelled against Me: Clarke observes that Moses records nothing of this idolatry in Egypt, and Ezekiel supplies it. Joshua 24:14 confirms that the fathers served gods in Egypt. Henry cites Deuteronomy 9, where Moses tells Israel the land is no reward for their righteousness.
Ezekiel 20:8
“They did not - cast away - They continued attached to the idolatry of Egypt; so that, had I consulted my justice only, I should have consumed them even in Egypt itself. This is a circumstance that Moses has not mentioned, namely, their provoking God by their idolatry, after he had sent Moses and Aaron to them in Egypt.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
1 more voice on this verse
Ezekiel 20:8
“Justly might he have said, "Let them die with the Egyptians." This magnifies the riches of God's goodness, that he was pleased to work so great a salvation for them even when he saw them ripe for ruin. Well might Moses tell them, It is not for your righteousness, Deut. ix.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
for the sake of My name: Clarke names the charge the nations would have made, that the LORD had broken His promises or lacked the power to keep them. Moses pleaded the same ground at Numbers 14:13 to 16. The name was at stake in Egypt.
Ezekiel 20:9
“But I wrought for my name’s sake - I bare with them and did not punish them, lest the heathen, who had known my promises made to them, might suppose that I had either broken them through some caprice, or was not able to fulfill them.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
1 more voice on this verse
Ezekiel 20:9
“Now, if he had left them to perish for their wickedness as they deserved, the Egyptians would have reflected upon him for it, and his name would have been polluted, which ought to be sanctified and shall be so. Note, The church is secured, even when it is corrupt, because God will secure his own honour. The Privileges and Sins of Israel.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Sabbaths given, statutes despised in the wilderness
Ezekiel 20:10-12
Brought out of Egypt into the wilderness, the nation receives the statutes and judgments. Alongside the law the Lord gives the sabbaths specifically as a sign between me and them. Henry reads the sabbath's placement here as deliberate, singled out because it is the commandment most visibly broken.
Ezekiel 20:10
“I caused them to go forth - Though greatly oppressed and degraded, they were not willing to leave their house of bondage. I was obliged to force them away.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
will live by them: The clause comes from Leviticus 18:5. Paul quotes it at Galatians 3:12, and Henry reads the man who does these statutes as offered life on condition of perfect obedience. Jamieson, Fausset and Brown read the ordinances as the outward form of a life Israel had already been given.
Ezekiel 20:11
“The Chaldee says, He shall live an eternal life in them. St. Paul quotes this ( Gal. iii. 12 ) to show that the law is not of faith, but proposes life upon condition of perfect obedience, which we are not capable of rendering, and therefore must have recourse to the grace of the gospel, without which we are all undone.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
1 more voice on this verse
Ezekiel 20:11
“The Israelites, as a nation, had life already freely given to them by God's covenant of promise; the laws of God were designed to be the means of the outward expression of their spiritual life.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
a sign between us: Exodus 31:13 gives the Sabbath the same words, a sign that the LORD sanctifies His people. Clarke reads the sign as a reminder of the creation, of the rest in Canaan and of an eternal rest. Hebrews 4:9 speaks of that last rest.
Ezekiel 20:12
“I gave them my Sabbaths - The religious observance of the Sabbath was the first statute or command of God to men. This institution was a sign between God and them, to keep them in remembrance of the creation of the world, of the rest that he designed them in Canaan, and of the eternal inheritance among the saints in light. Of these things the Sabbath was a type and pledge.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Ezekiel 20:13-14
rebelled against Me in the wilderness: The wilderness generation rebelled against me in the wilderness in the same three ways just named, statutes unkept, judgments despised, sabbaths greatly polluted. Again the sentence is stayed for his name's sake before the heathen who watched the exodus and might read Israel's destruction as their God's weakness.
Ezekiel 20:13
“They did not only not walk in God's statutes, but they despised his judgments as not worth observing; instead of sanctifying the sabbaths, they polluted them, greatly polluted them; one gathered sticks, many went out to gather manna on this day. Hereupon God was ready sometimes to cut them off; he said, more than once, that he would consume them in the wilderness.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
1 more voice on this verse
Ezekiel 20:13
“In the wilderness - Where they most needed my care and favour; where the preserving their life from destruction by the noxious creatures, and from famine by the barrenness of the wilderness, was a continued miracle.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
I acted for the sake of My name: The refrain of verse 9 returns in the wilderness. At the calf Moses pleaded that Egypt would say the LORD brought Israel out to kill them, and the LORD relented, Exodus 32:12 to 14. Henry reads the wilderness years as a run of such reprieves.
Ezekiel 20:15-17
The Lord swears with the same lifted hand that this generation would not enter the land, the oath fulfilled in the wilderness deaths Numbers records. Their idolatry is named plainly, for their heart went after their idols, the verdict behind the exclusion rather than the wandering alone.
Ezekiel 20:15
“I lifted up my hand - Their provocations in the wilderness were so great, that I vowed never to bring them into the promised land. I did not consume them, but I disinherited them. See the note on Eze 20:5 (note).”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
1 more voice on this verse
Ezekiel 20:15
“Note, The bias of the mind towards the world and the flesh, the money and the belly (those two great objects of spiritual idolatry), is the root of bitterness from which springs all disobedience to the divine law. The heart that goes after those idols despises God's judgments.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
their hearts continually went after their idols: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown set this beside Numbers 14:4, where the people planned to go back to Egypt after the report of the spies. The heart was the cause. Henry calls a heart that goes after idols the root of every rejected ordinance and profaned Sabbath.
Ezekiel 20:16
“The special reason is stated by Moses (Nu 13:32, 33; 14:4) to be that they, through fear arising from the false report of the spies, wished to return to Egypt; the general reasons are stated here which lay at the root of their rejection of God's grace; namely, contempt of God and His laws, and love of idols. their heart--The fault lay in it (Ps 78:37).”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
I looked on them with pity: Henry reads the pity as a reprieve until a new generation was reared. The fathers died in the wilderness over forty years, and their children entered the land. Numbers 14:31 promised the land to those children.
Ezekiel 20:17
“When he looked upon them he had compassion on them, and did not make an end of them, but reprieved them till a new generation was reared. Note, It is owing purely to the mercy of God that he has not long ago made an end of us. This new generation is well educated.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Ezekiel 20:18-20
The charge is renewed to the next generation, walk ye not in the statutes of your fathers, a direct command to break the family pattern. Gill reads the repetition as proof that each generation stands on its own footing before the Lord, judged for its own choice.
Ezekiel 20:18
“I said unto their children--being unwilling to speak any more to the fathers as being incorrigible. Walk ye not in . . . statutes of . . . fathers--The traditions of the fathers are to be carefully weighed, not indiscriminately followed. He forbids the imitation of not only their gross sins, but even their plausible statutes [CALVIN].”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
walk in My statutes: The LORD sets His own statutes against the statutes of the fathers in verse 18. The children are given a choice of inheritance. Jamieson, Fausset and Brown note that the traditions of the fathers are to be weighed before they are followed.
Keep My Sabbaths holy: The Sabbath returns as the sign of verse 12, now given to the children. Keeping it would mark them off from the nations as the LORD's own people. Clarke calls it the first statute God gave to men.
Ezekiel 20:20
“And hallow my sabbaths,.... Or keep them holy, by abstaining from worldly business on them; by observing all the duties of religion, private and public, to be performed on such days: and they shall be a sign between me and you; of present and future good; See Gill on Eze 20:12; that ye may know that I am the Lord your God; not only acknowledge him to be the Lord their God, by observing his laws, and sanctifying his sabbaths; but also have a larger experience of his grace and goodness, as their covenant God.”
Ezekiel 20:21-22
the children rebelled against Me: exactly as their fathers had. I withdrew mine hand repeats the earlier restraint, an oath begun and physically pulled back. Clarke reads the withdrawn hand as the most vivid picture in the chapter of mercy overruling a judgment already set in motion.
Ezekiel 20:21
“Though warned by the judgment on their fathers, the next generation also rebelled against God. The "kindness of Israel's youth and love of her espousals in the wilderness" (Jer 2:2, 3) were only comparative (the corruption in later times being more general), and confined to the minority; as a whole, Israel at no time fully served God.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
I withheld My hand: Gill cites the Targum, which renders the clause that God turned away the stroke of His might. The hand was already raised. The third reprieve of the chapter rests on the same name as the first two, kept holy before the nations.
Ezekiel 20:22
“Nevertheless I withdrew mine hand,.... When it was stretched out against them, as in the above instance, and did not utterly consume them. The Targum is, "and I turned away the stroke of my might:'' and wrought for my name's sake, that it should not be polluted in the sight of the heathen, in whose sight I brought them forth. See Gill on Eze 20:9 and See Gill on Eze 20:14.”
1 more voice on this verse
Ezekiel 20:22
“I withdrew mine hand - I had just lifted it up to crush them as in a moment; for they also were idolatrous, and walked in the steps of their fathers.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Ezekiel 20:23-24
A third oath follows, sworn in the wilderness itself, that the Lord would scatter them among the heathen and disperse them through the countries. The stated ground is deliberate: not executed my judgments, despised my statutes, polluted my sabbaths, eyes after their fathers' idols.
Ezekiel 20:23
“I lifted up mine hand also to them in the wilderness,.... Swore unto them, as in Eze 20:5; that I would scatter them among the Heathen, and disperse them through the countries; after they came to be settled in the land of Canaan, they sinning against the Lord; which was fulfilled in the times of the Babylonish captivity, and in their destruction by the Romans; but was threatened and foretold while they were in the wilderness, Lev 26:33; with this compare Psa 106:26.”
fixing their eyes on the idols: Henry calls the profaning of the Sabbath an inlet to all impiety. The charge ends at the eyes, where verse 7 began with the abominations before the eyes in Egypt. Idolatry passed from fathers to sons by sight.
Ezekiel 20:24
“Those who disobey God's statutes despise them, they show that they have a mean opinion of them and of him whose statutes they are. They polluted God's sabbaths, as their fathers. Note, The profanation of the sabbath day is an inlet to all impiety; those who pollute holy time will keep nothing pure.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Ezekiel 20:25-26
statutes that were not good: Wherefore I gave them also statutes that were not good is the chapter's hardest line. One reading takes it as judicial abandonment, God giving Israel over to the corrupt customs of the nations, including child sacrifice. A second reading takes the statutes as Israel's own corruptions, permitted rather than commanded.
Ezekiel 20:25
“I gave them also statutes that were not good - What a foolish noise has been made about this verse by critics, believers and infidels! How is it that God can be said “to give a people statutes that were not good, and judgments whereby they could not live?” I answer, in their sense of the words, God never gave any such, at any time, to any people. Let any man produce an example of this kind if he can; or show even the fragment of such a law, sanctioned by the Most High!”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
2 more voices on this verse
Ezekiel 20:25
“For a paedagogus, as the word is rendered in the Latin, is the teacher of a boy; and he cannot apply perfect precepts to an imperfect age, because it cannot bear them. Again, the God of the Law says by the Prophet, I gave them also statutes that were not good, that is, not perfect. But the same God has preserved more perfect things for the Gospel, as He says, I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil the Law.”
Ambrose of Milan · written before 397 · Letter 74.2patristic
Ezekiel 20:25
“Wherefore - Because they rejected my good laws and judgments. I gave them - Not by enjoining, but by permitting them to make such for themselves. Not good - That were pernicious to the users.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
Jamieson, Fausset and Brown sum up the verse in one line, their own sin made their punishment. Fairbairn, as they cite him, ties the wording to Exodus 13:12, where every firstborn was set apart to the LORD. Israel turned that law into child sacrifice.
Ezekiel 20:26
“I polluted them in their own gifts - I permitted them to pollute themselves by the offerings which they made to their idols. Causing their children to pass through the fire was one of those pollutions; but, did God ever give them a statute or judgment of this kind? No. He ever inveighs against such things, and they incur his heaviest displeasure and curse. See on Eze 20:31 (note).”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
1 more voice on this verse
Ezekiel 20:26
“This Eze 20:26 is explanatory of Eze 20:25. Their own sin I made their punishment. caused to pass through the fire--FAIRBAIRN translates, "In their presenting (literally, 'the causing to pass over') all their first-born," namely, to the Lord; referring to the command (Ex 13:12, Margin, where the very same expression is used).”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
You will not be like the nations who serve wood and stone
Ezekiel 20:27-29
The fathers blasphemed the Lord at every high hill and thick tree. The name thereof is called Bamah unto this day, a title that is the Hebrew word for high place. Gill reads the naming as mockery turned into monument, the site's very name preserving the sin it committed.
Ezekiel 20:27
“Yet in this--Not content with past rebellions, and not moved with gratitude for God's goodness, "yet in this," still further they rebelled. blasphemed--"have insulted me" [CALVIN]. Even those who did not sacrifice to heathen gods have offered "their sacrifices" (Eze 20:28) in forbidden places.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
1 more voice on this verse
Ezekiel 20:27
“The probation in the land of Canaan from their entry to the day of Ezekiel. Eze 20:27 Yet in this - It was an aggravation of their guilt that they defiled with idolatry the land given them for their glory. Eze 20:29 Bamah - The Hebrew word for “high place.” Another instance of the perversion of God’s laws. When the Israelites first entered Canaan they were to set up the “tabernacle” on a “high place,” and upon this and upon no other they were to worship Yahweh (1Sa 9:12 ff; 1Ki 3:4).”
any high hill or leafy tree: Barnes finds the guilt heavier for being committed in the land given as the glory of all lands. Jamieson, Fausset and Brown note that even offerings meant for the LORD were made at forbidden places. Deuteronomy 12:2 had ordered every such site destroyed.
it is called Bamah.): Clarke hears a play on words in the Hebrew question, mah habbamah. Henry notes that even the best kings of Judah left the high places standing, as Kings records of Asa and Jehoshaphat. The name Bamah outlived every reform, to this day.
Ezekiel 20:29
“What is the high place - מה הבמה mah habbamah, “what is the high place?” What is it good for? Its being a high place shows it to be a place of idolatry. I called it במה bamah, to mark it with infamy; but ye continue to frequent it, even while it is called במה bamah, to the present day!”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
2 more voices on this verse
Ezekiel 20:29
“They are wedded to their high places; even in the best reigns those were not taken away; you could not prevail to take away the name of Bamah--the high place, out of their mouths, but still they would have that in the place of their worship. The sin and the sinner are with difficulty parted.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Ezekiel 20:29
“David and others, it is true, sacrificed to God on high places, but it was under exceptional circumstances, and before the altar was set up on Mount Moriah.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
Ezekiel 20:30-31
The present generation is charged with the same whoredom after their fathers' abominations. The child sacrifice named at pollute yourselves with all your idols is a practice some among them still kept unto this day. The refusal from verse three returns unchanged, I will not be enquired of by you.
Ezekiel 20:30
“He must say to the present house of Israel, some of whose elders were now sitting before him, " Are you polluted after the manner of your fathers? After all that God has said against you by a succession of prophets, and done against you by a series of judgments, yet will you take no warning?”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
1 more voice on this verse
Ezekiel 20:30
The interrogation implies a strong affirmation, as in Eze 20:4, "Are ye not polluted . . . ? Or, connecting this verse with Eze 20:31, "Are ye thus polluted . . . and yet (do ye expect that) I shall be inquired of by you?"
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
sacrificing your sons in the fire: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown read the fire named here as a real burning of children before the idol. Clarke reads the verse as the key to verse 26, where the pollution was the people's choice and God permitted it. Jeremiah 7:31 names the place, Topheth in the Valley of Hinnom.
Ezekiel 20:31
“Ye pollute yourselves - This shows the sense in which God says, Eze 20:26, “I polluted them in their own gifts.” They chose to pollute themselves, and I permitted them to do so. See on Eze 20:25 (note), Eze 20:26 (note).”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
1 more voice on this verse
Ezekiel 20:31
“The reason, however, for the omission of "the fire" in Eze 20:26 is, perhaps, that there it is implied the children only "passed through the fire" for purification, whereas here they are actually burnt to death before the idol; and therefore "the fire" is specified in the latter, not in the former case (compare 2Ki 3:27).”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
Ezekiel 20:32-38
The people's own plan to become like the heathen and serve wood and stone is refused outright. The Lord answers with a mighty hand, a stretched out arm, fury poured out, the same triad Exodus uses for the deliverance from Egypt. Rebels who transgress are purged out before entry.
Ezekiel 20:32
“And that which cometh into your mind - Ye wish to be naturalized among idolaters, and make a part of such nations. But this shall not be at all; you shall be preserved as a distinct people. Ye shall not be permitted to mingle yourselves with the people of those countries: even they, idolaters as they are, will despise and reject you. Besides, I will change your place, restore your captivity; yet not in mercy, but in fury poured out; and reserve you for sorer evils, Eze 20:34.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
1 more voice on this verse
Ezekiel 20:32
“This matter was palliated as well as it would bear, like Naaman's pleading with Elisha for leave to bow in the house of Rimmon, in compliment to the king; but we have reason to suspect that their enquiry drove at this. Note, Those hearts are wretchedly hardened which ask God leave to go on in sin, and that when they are suffering for it.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Brought into the wilderness of the peoples to be judged
with a strong hand, an outstretched arm: The strong hand and outstretched arm that brought Israel out of Egypt now rule over a people who wanted to serve wood and stone. Jamieson, Fausset and Brown count the return from Babylon a partial fulfilment and look for a full one. The LORD keeps His own.
Ezekiel 20:33
“This was only partially fulfilled before, and at the return from Babylon: its full and final accomplishment is future. with a mighty hand, . . . will I rule over you--I will assert My right over you in spite of your resistance (Eze 20:32), as a master would in the case of his slave, and I will not let you be wrested from Me, because of My regard to My covenant.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
gather you from the lands: Spurgeon preached on these verses to exiles scattered among the peoples and trying to melt into the nations. The LORD will bring them out and gather them from the lands, against the plan of verse 32. Jamieson, Fausset and Brown read the outpoured wrath as chastening.
Ezekiel 20:34
“THIS striking utterance was given forth by that renowned Seer, Ezekiel, at the time when the Israelites, scattered in every country, had begun to forget their nationality. They judged it prudent and wise, as much as possible, to disguise their distinctive character and melt their race into the Babylonian or Chaldean—and become like the heathen.”
1 more voice on this verse
Ezekiel 20:34
The Jews in exile might think themselves set free from the "rule" of God (Eze 20:33); therefore, He intimates, He will reassert His right over them by chastening judgments, and these, with an ultimate view, not to destroy, but to restore them. people--rather, "peoples."
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
the wilderness of the nations: Gill reads the wilderness of the nations as Babylon and the captivity there. Clarke reads it as the ruined land of Judah after the return. Deuteronomy 5:4 has the LORD speaking face to face at Sinai.
Ezekiel 20:35
“And I will bring you into the wilderness of the people,.... Into Babylon, and into captivity there, which they thought to avoid by fleeing to other countries.”
1 more voice on this verse
Ezekiel 20:35
“I will bring you into the wilderness of the people - I will bring you out of your captivity, and bring you into your own land which you will find to be a wilderness, the consequence of your crimes. There will I plead with you - There I will be your king, and rule you with a sovereign rule; and the dispensations of my justice and mercy shall either end you or mend you.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
in the wilderness of the land of Egypt: The wilderness of the land of Egypt is Sinai and the forty years that followed it. There the LORD judged the fathers and let a generation die before the entry. Henry sees the same sifting leave a repentant remnant.
pass under the rod: Leviticus 27:32 describes the tithe of the flock, where every tenth animal that passed under the shepherd's rod was holy to the LORD. Clarke took the picture from the rabbis. Henry reads the rod as affliction that brings the remnant back into the covenant.
Ezekiel 20:37
“Or it may refer to those among them that repented and reformed; he will cause them to pass under the rod of affliction, and, having done them good by it, he will bring them again into the bond of the covenant, will be to them a God in covenant, and use them again as heirs of promise.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
2 more voices on this verse
Ezekiel 20:37
“I will cause you to pass under the rod - This alludes to the custom of tithing the sheep. I take it from the rabbins. The sheep were all penned; and the shepherd stood at the door of the fold, where only one sheep could come out at once.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Ezekiel 20:37
“Whether you will or not, ye shall be counted as Mine, and so shall be subjected to My chastening discipline (Mic 7:14), with a view to My ultimate saving of the chosen remnant (compare Joh 10:27-29). bond of . . . covenant--I will constrain you by sore chastisements to submit yourselves to the covenant to which ye are lastingly bound, though now you have cast away God's bond from you.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
I will purge you of those who rebel: Numbers 14:29 and 30 kept the rebels of the first wilderness out of Canaan. The second exodus repeats that sentence. Clarke reads the rebels here as those who refuse the Savior appointed for Israel.
Ezekiel 20:38
“I will purge out from among you the rebels - The incorrigibly wicked I will destroy; those who will not receive him whom I have appointed for this purpose as the Savior of Israel. And I will gather you who believe out of all the countries where you sojourn, and bring you into your own land; but those of you who will not believe - will not receive the Son of David to reign over you, shall never enter into the land of Israel, but die in your dispersions.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Accepted as a sweet savor when I gather you home
Ezekiel 20:39-42
The Lord tells Israel to go and serve their idols, but he adds the one condition that still stands, pollute my holy name no more. The turn comes at mine holy mountain, where all the house of Israel is promised full acceptance, offerings, firstfruits, and holy things once again received.
Ezekiel 20:39
“Go ye, serve ye every one his idols - Thus, God gave them statutes that were not good, and judgments whereby they could not live, by thus permitting them to take their own way, serve their gods, and follow the maxims and rites of that abominable worship.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
My holy mountain, the high mountain of Israel: Wesley notes that Zion stood lower than many hills yet above them all for the presence of God. Jamieson, Fausset and Brown set the verse beside Isaiah 2:2 and 3, where all nations stream to Zion. The whole house of Israel serves there.
Ezekiel 20:40
“Of the height - Sion, tho' lower than many other hills, yet was above them all for God's peculiar presence. In the land - Their own land. Your offerings - When I have brought you into the land, then I will require your offerings as formerly: you shall see my temple built, Jerusalem filled with inhabitants, and my worship restored.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
2 more voices on this verse
Ezekiel 20:40
“For--Though ye, the rebellious portion, withdraw from My worship, others, even the believing remnant, will succeed after you perish, and will serve Me purely. in mine holy mountain-- (Isa 2:2, 3).”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
Ezekiel 20:40
“And it is therefore just that those who will not live and flourish as they might in their obedience should die and perish in their disobedience. Now the great instance of that generation's rebellion and inclination to idolatry was the iniquity of Peor, as that of their fathers was the golden calf.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
as a pleasing aroma: A pleasing aroma is the language of the burnt offering in Leviticus 1:9. Here the LORD accepts the people themselves as the offering. Spurgeon noted that God still saw every sin of His people when He made this promise.
Ezekiel 20:41
“GOD does not cease to observe the sins of His people. As the eyes of Moses never waxed dim, so the eyes of God do not grow dim with regard to the sins of His chosen. We may learn this from the recapitulation of those offenses which we find in the chapter before us and in many other places in Scripture. He looks down from Heaven and beholds their wanderings, the hardness of their hearts, the stubbornness of their will, their daily and continual violations of His statutes and commands.”
the land that I swore to give your fathers: The uplifted hand of verses 5, 15 and 23 returns here as an oath kept. Jerome notes that the fathers lost the land by their sins. Henry reads the promise as given to those who kept their integrity and would serve the LORD in their own land.
Ezekiel 20:42
“It is promised that those who preserved their integrity, and would not serve idols, in other lands, shall return to their prosperity and shall serve the true God in their own land: All of them in the land shall serve me. Note, It is the true happiness of a people, and a sure token for good to them, when there is a prevailing disposition in them to serve God.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Ezekiel 20:43-44
There shall ye remember your ways and ye shall lothe yourselves in your own sight, memory and shame carried into the land that mercy provides. Wesley reads the closing not according to your wicked ways as the chapter's own refusal to let restoration be mistaken for reward.
Ezekiel 20:43
“And there shall ye remember your ways - Ye shall be ashamed of your past conduct, and of your long opposition to the Gospel of your salvation. These promises may, in a certain limited sense, be applied to the restoration from the Babylonish captivity; but they must have their proper fulfillment when the Jews shall accept Jesus as their Savior, and in consequence be brought back from all their dispersions to their own land.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
1 more voice on this verse
Ezekiel 20:43
“There you shall loathe yourselves in your own sight. Note, Ingenuous evangelical repentance makes people loathe themselves for their sins, as Job xlii. (5.) He will give them the knowledge of himself: They shall know by experience that he is the Lord, that he is a God of almighty power and inexhaustible goodness, kind to his people and faithful to his covenant with them.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
for the sake of My name: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown tie the verse to 36:22, where the LORD acts for His holy name and gives the reason in full. They read the mercy as free, flowing from compassion alone. In the Hebrew Bible the chapter ends here.
Ezekiel 20:44
“The English Version chapter ought to have ended here, and the twenty-first chapter begun with "Moreover," &c., as in the Hebrew Bible. for my name's sake-- (Eze 36:22). Gratuitously; according to My compassion, not your merits. After having commented on this verse, CALVIN was laid on his death bed, and his commentary ended.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
Fire kindled in the forest of the south
Ezekiel 20:45-49
A new oracle closes the chapter, a fire that will devour green tree and dry tree alike and burn every face from south to north. Barnes points out that the Hebrew chapter division runs this fire oracle straight into what English Bibles print as chapter twenty one.
Ezekiel 20:45
“Moreover, the word of the Lord came unto me, saying. Or the word of prophecy, as the Targum. Here begins a new prophecy, and most properly a new chapter should here begin; for the next chapter is of the same argument with this, and an explanation of it, and an enlargement upon it. And here Ben Melech begins one; and so Junius and Tremellius, Piscator, and Castalio.”
1 more voice on this verse
Ezekiel 20:45
“The occasion of the message which we have in this chapter. That sermon which we had ch. xviii. was occasioned by their presumptuous reflections upon God; this was occasioned by their hypocritical enquiries after him. This prophecy is exactly dated, in the seventh year of the captivity, about two years after Ezekiel began to prophesy.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
set your face toward the south: Clarke and Gill both place the south in Judea, which lay south of Babylon, where the prophet lived. Clarke reads the forest of the Negev as Jerusalem, as full of people as a forest is of trees. Gill reads setting the face as bold speech.
Ezekiel 20:46
“Son of man, set thy force toward the south,.... The land of Judea, which lay south of Babylon, where the prophet now was, as Babylon lay north of that, Jer 1:14 to set his face was to speak freely and boldly, with courage and constancy, and without fear and dread, to the inhabitants of it; and as a token of the Lord's face being set against them for their sins.”
1 more voice on this verse
Ezekiel 20:46
“Set thy face toward the south - Towards Judea, which lay south from Babylon, or Mesopotamia, where the prophet then dwelt. The forest of the south field - The city of Jerusalem, as full of inhabitants as the forest is of trees.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
both green and dry: Clarke reads the fire as the war Nebuchadnezzar would bring, the green trees as the leading men and the dry trees as the poorest. Jesus used green and dry wood at Luke 23:31. Everyone in the land would feel the flame.
Ezekiel 20:47
“I will kindle a fire - I will send war, “and it shall devour every green tree,” the most eminent and substantial of the inhabitants; and every dry tree, the lowest and meanest also. The flaming flame shall not be quenched - The fierce ravages of Nebuchadnezzar and the Chaldeans shall not be stopped till the whole land is ruined. All faces from the south to the north shalt be burned - From the one end of the land to the other there shall be nothing but fear, dismay, terror, and confusion, occasioned by the wide-wasting violence of the Chaldeans.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Gill extends all people to the nations around Judah, who would see the hand of the LORD in the fall of Jerusalem. The fire has one source. Lamentations 4:11 says the LORD kindled a fire in Zion that consumed its foundations.
Ezekiel 20:48
“And all flesh shall see that I the Lord have kindled it,.... Not only the inhabitants of Jerusalem and Judea should see the hand of the Lord in their destruction; but even all the neighbouring nations, the case was so clear and plain, the matter so visible: it shall not be quenched; no stop put to it by all the art and power of man; so that it was a clear point that it was the Lord's doing.”
Clarke renders the charge in the Hebrew as a maker of parables, one who always speaks in figures. Jamieson, Fausset and Brown note that the Lord GOD answers in chapter 21 with the fire of verse 47 told in plain words. The forest becomes a sword.
Ezekiel 20:49
“Ah Lord God - O my God, consider my situation; who will believe what I shall say? They put the evil day far from them. Doth he not speak parables? - הלא ממשל משלים הוא halo memashshel meshalim hu, “Is not he a maker of parables?” Is it not his custom to deal in enigmas? His figures are not to be understood; we should not trouble ourselves with them.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
2 more voices on this verse
Ezekiel 20:49
“Then said I, ah Lord God!.... The Septuagint version is, "by no means, Lord, Lord"; that is, let me not be sent on such an errand; at least, let it not be delivered in such figurative terms; or let not such a general calamity befall the people.”
Ezekiel 20:49
“Ezekiel complains that by this parabolic form of prophecy he only makes himself and it a jest to his countrymen. God therefore in Eze 21:1-32 permits him to express the same prophecy more plainly.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
Keep studying
Sources for this chapter
The summary
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory; John Calvin, Commentaries; John Wesley, Notes on the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Complete Commentary.
The exposition
Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes; Carl Friedrich Keil, Biblical Commentary on the Prophecies of Ezekiel; Charles Spurgeon; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; Jamieson, Fausset and Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; Jerome, Commentary on Ezekiel; John Gill; John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament; Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Patrick Fairbairn, An Exposition of Ezekiel.