51 matching verse commentaries
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
I [am] the Lord your God,.... Not only that had made them and preserved them, but had chose them above all people to be his people; who had made a covenant with them, and had distinguished them by his favours from all others: walk in my statutes, and keep my judgments, and do them; which he had given unto their fathers, and they had neglected and...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
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 comments on Ezekiel 20:12]; that ye may know that I [am] the Lord your God; not only...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Notwithstanding the children rebelled against me,.... After the death of their fathers, when they were come into the plains of Moab, and just going to enter the land; they rebelled against the Lord, and greatly provoked him, by joining themselves to Baalpeor, the idol of Moab, they worshipped, Numbers 25:3; they walked not in my statutes, neither...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
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 comments on...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
I lifted up mine hand also to them in the wilderness,.... Swore unto them, as in Ezekiel 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...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Because they had not executed my judgments,.... Had not done that which was right and just, as the Lord commanded them: but had despised my statutes, and had polluted my sabbaths; as their fathers had done: and their eyes were after their fathers' idols; which they had learned to serve in Egypt, or brought with them from thence; these the eyes and...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Wherefore I gave them also statutes [that were] not good,.... Yea, were very bad; not the moral law, and the statutes of it; for that is holy, just, and good, though the killing letter and ministration of condemnation and death to the transgressors of it; indeed those laws were both good and bad to different persons, as Abendana observes; good to...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And one polluted them in their own gifts,.... Suffered them to defile themselves; or declared them to be, and treated them as polluted persons, in the gifts and sacrifices which they offered to idols, particularly their firstborn: as the next clause explains it: in that they caused to pass though [the fire] all that openeth the womb; this very...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Therefore, son of man, speak unto the house of Israel, and say unto them,.... The elders of Israel, Ezekiel 20:1; who came in the name of the whole body, and represented them, and by whom the following message is sent unto them; or the prophet by them might speak unto them, as he is ordered: thus saith the Lord God, yet in this your fathers have...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
[For] when I had brought them into the land,.... Brought them out of Egypt through the wilderness into the land of Canaan, through so many difficulties, by such displays of power, goodness, and truth: [for] the which I lifted up mine band to give it to them; which he swore he would give unto them, and which he did, and so fulfilled his word and...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Then I said unto them,.... By his prophets that he sent unto them: what is the high place where, unto you go? what is the name of it? what is the use of it? to what end do you go there? is there not an altar built by my order and command to sacrifice upon is this high place better than that? does it answer a better end and purpose? and the name...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Wherefore say unto the house of Israel, thus saith the Lord God,.... To the elders, as before: are ye polluted after the manner of your fathers? they were: and commit ye whoredoms after their abominations? spiritual adultery; that is, idolatry, in the same abominable manner? they did, as appears by what follows:
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
For when ye offer your gifts,.... And sacrifices to idols. The Septuagint and Arabic versions render it, the firstfruits of your gifts; it may design their firstborn; see Ezekiel 20:26 as the following clause seems to explain it: when ye make your sons to pass through the fire; or between two fires to Moloch, as their fathers had done before them;...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And that which cometh into your mind shall not be at all,.... What they had contrived in their own breasts, and laid a plan of, and would gladly have brought about, should be frustrated, take no effect, and come to nothing: that ye say, we will be as the Heathen; live without God; not be in subjection to him, or under his government, or be called...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
As I live, saith the Lord God,.... The form of an oath; the Lord swears by his own life, used more than once before; it supposes something of moment, and the certain performance of it: surely with a mighty hand, and with an outstretched arm; from which none can escape, and which none can withstand: and with fury poured out: like floods of water,...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
I will bring you out from the people, and will gather you out of the countries wherein ye are scattered,.... The Egyptians, Ammonites, and others; where they went for safety and protection, and among whom they intended to settle, and had formed a scheme to cast off the yoke of God and his worship, and be no more a nation or people under his...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
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. Some think that those inhospitable nations are meant, Syro-media, Caspia, Hyrcania, Iberia, and others, into which many of the Jews were brought, who sought to live elsewhere than at...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Like as I pleaded with your fathers in the wilderness of the land of Egypt,.... Which was opposite the land of Egypt, near unto it, on the borders of it; and into which the people immediately went, when they came out of Egypt, and passed the Red sea; and the Arabic version is, "when I brought them out of the land of Egypt.'' This refers to the...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And I will cause you to pass under the rod,.... That is, such whom God will not take vengeance on, and shall not die in the wilderness of the people; but whom he will have mercy on, and show favour to, and bring at length into their own land; these he indeed will bring under the rod of correction and chastisement, by which they shall be brought to...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And I will purge out from among you the rebels, and them that transgress against me,.... All men are enemies, and enmity itself, against God; and every sin is an act of hostility and rebellion against him; every transgression and violation of his law is a casting off of allegiance to him, and a trampling upon and despising his legislative power...