Ezekielchapter 20
49 verses · BSBEzekiel book hub →
Speaks with:Ezekiel 20×26Ezekiel 36×4Ezekiel 6×4Leviticus 18×3Ezekiel 11×3Psalms 106×2
Summary
Chapter summary
Elders come again to inquire, and are refused: 'As I live, saith the Lord Jehovah, I will not be inquired of by you.' Instead Ezekiel gives a history of rebellion in cycles, in Egypt, where they would not cast away her idols; in the wilderness with the first generation and with their children; and in the land, on every high hill. Each cycle turns on the same restraint: 'I wrought for my name's sake, that it should not be profaned.' The sabbaths given as a sign were profaned too. Judgment comes as a second exodus: brought into the wilderness of the peoples, pleaded with face to face, made to pass under the rod and into the bond of the covenant.
Context
Prophecy · Ezekiel — Ezekiel overview
- A. 1–9 Elders come to inquire; God tells them about Egypt
- B. 10–26 Sabbaths given, statutes despised in the wilderness
- C. 27–32 You will not be like the nations who serve wood and stone
- D. 33–38 Brought into the wilderness of the peoples to be judged
- E. 39–44 Accepted as a sweet savor when I gather you home
- F. 45–49 Fire kindled in the forest of the south
The outline
A.Elders come to inquire; God tells them about Egyptvv. 1 to 9
Read vv. 1 to 9 →B.Sabbaths given, statutes despised in the wildernessvv. 10 to 26
Read vv. 10 to 26 →C.You will not be like the nations who serve wood and stonevv. 27 to 32
Read vv. 27 to 32 →D.Brought into the wilderness of the peoples to be judgedvv. 33 to 38
Read vv. 33 to 38 →E.Accepted as a sweet savor when I gather you homevv. 39 to 44
Read vv. 39 to 44 →F.Fire kindled in the forest of the southvv. 45 to 49
Read vv. 45 to 49 →
The world behind this chapter
Ezekiel 20The history
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.
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.
What it meant to them
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.
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.
Sources cited
- C. F. Keil and F. Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Prophecies of Ezekiel
- Roland de Vaux, Ancient Israel: Its Life and Institutions
- John H. Walton, Victor H. Matthews and Mark W. Chavalas, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: Old Testament
The text of this chapter
This page carries no textual note on Ezekiel 20. Where this site has examined a place the manuscripts differ, the examination is in the manuscripts room. Every place this site examines →
This page draws on Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory; John Calvin, Commentaries; John Wesley, Notes on the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Complete Commentary.