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<TITLE>Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary on the Whole Bible [Ezekiel XIV].</TITLE>
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Matthew Henry<BR><I>Commentary on the Whole Bible</I> (1712)
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<!-- (Begin Body) -->
<CENTER>
<BR><FONT SIZE=+3><B>E Z E K I E L.</B></FONT>
<BR>
<BR><FONT SIZE=+2>CHAP. XIV.</FONT>
<HR SIZE=1 WIDTH=50>
</CENTER>
<FONT SIZE=-1>
<P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
Hearing the word, and prayer, are two great ordinances of God, in which
we are to give honour to him and may hope to find favour and acceptance
with him; and yet in this chapter, to our great surprise, we find some
waiting upon God in the one and some in the other and yet not meeting
with success as they expected.
I. The elders of Israel come to hear the word, and enquire of the
prophet, but, because they are not duly qualified, they meet with a
rebuke instead of acceptance
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Eze+14:1-5">ver. 1-5</A>)
and are called upon to repent of their sins and reform their lives,
else it is at their peril to enquire of God,
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Eze+14:6-11">ver. 6-11</A>.
II. Noah, Daniel, and Job, are supposed to pray for this people, and
yet, because the decree has gone forth, and the destruction of them is
determined by a variety of judgments, their prayers shall not be
answered,
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Eze+14:12-21">ver. 12-21</A>.
And yet it is promised, in the close, that a remnant shall escape,
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Eze+14:22,23">ver. 22, 23</A>.</P>
</FONT>
<A NAME="Eze14_1"> </A>
<A NAME="Eze14_2"> </A>
<A NAME="Eze14_3"> </A>
<A NAME="Eze14_4"> </A>
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<TABLE WIDTH="100%" BORDER=0>
<TR><TD><FONT SIZE=+1><I>The Elders of Israel Rebuked; The Prophet's Address to the Elders.</I></FONT></TD>
<TD ALIGN=RIGHT><FONT SIZE=-1>B. C.</FONT> 593.</TD></TR>
<TR><TD COLSPAN=2><HR SIZE=1></TD></TR>
</TABLE>
<P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
<FONT SIZE=+1>1 Then came certain of the elders of Israel unto me, and sat
before me.
&nbsp; 2 And the word of the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT> came unto me, saying,
&nbsp; 3 Son of man, these men have set up their idols in their heart,
and put the stumbling-block of their iniquity before their face:
should I be enquired of at all by them?
&nbsp; 4 Therefore speak unto them, and say unto them, Thus saith the
Lord G<FONT SIZE=-1><B>OD</B></FONT>; Every man of the house of Israel that setteth up his
idols in his heart, and putteth the stumbling-block of his
iniquity before his face, and cometh to the prophet; I the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT>
will answer him that cometh according to the multitude of his
idols;
&nbsp; 5 That I may take the house of Israel in their own heart,
because they are all estranged from me through their idols.
&nbsp; 6 Therefore say unto the house of Israel, Thus saith the Lord
G<FONT SIZE=-1><B>OD</B></FONT>; Repent, and turn <I>yourselves</I> from your idols; and turn away
your faces from all your abominations.
&nbsp; 7 For every one of the house of Israel, or of the stranger that
sojourneth in Israel, which separateth himself from me, and
setteth up his idols in his heart, and putteth the stumbling-block
of his iniquity before his face, and cometh to a prophet to
enquire of him concerning me; I the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT> will answer him by
myself:
&nbsp; 8 And I will set my face against that man, and will make him a
sign and a proverb, and I will cut him off from the midst of my
people; and ye shall know that I <I>am</I> the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT>.
&nbsp; 9 And if the prophet be deceived when he hath spoken a thing, I
the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT> have deceived that prophet, and I will stretch out my
hand upon him, and will destroy him from the midst of my people
Israel.
&nbsp; 10 And they shall bear the punishment of their iniquity: the
punishment of the prophet shall be even as the punishment of him
that seeketh <I>unto him;</I>
&nbsp; 11 That the house of Israel may go no more astray from me,
neither be polluted any more with all their transgressions; but
that they may be my people, and I may be their God, saith the
Lord G<FONT SIZE=-1><B>OD</B></FONT>.
</FONT></P>
<P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
Here is,
I. The address which some of the elders of Israel made to the prophet,
as an oracle, to enquire of the Lord by him. They <I>came, and sat
before him,</I>
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Eze+14:1"><I>v.</I> 1</A>.
It is probable that they were not of those who were now his
fellow-captives, and constantly attended his ministry (such as those we
read of
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Eze+8:1"><I>ch.</I> viii. 1</A>),
but some occasional hearers, some of the grandees of Jerusalem who had
come upon business to Babylon, perhaps public business, on an embassy
from the king, and in their way called on the prophet, having heard
much of him and being desirous to know if he had any message from God,
which might be some guide to them in their negotiation. By the severe
answer given them one would suspect they had a design to ensnare the
prophet, or to try if they could catch hold of any thing that might
look like a contradiction to Jeremiah's prophecies, and so they might
have occasion to reproach them both. However, they feigned themselves
just men, complimented the prophet, and sat before him gravely enough,
as God's people used to sit. Note, It is no new thing for bad men to be
found employed in the external performances of religion.</P>
<P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
II. The account which God gave the prophet privately concerning them.
They were strangers to him; he only knew that they were <I>elders of
Israel;</I> that was the character they wore, and as such he received
them with respect, and, it is likely, was glad to see them so well
disposed. But God gives him their real character
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Eze+14:3"><I>v.</I> 3</A>);
they were idolaters, and did only consult Ezekiel as they would any
oracle of a pretended deity, to gratify their curiosity, and therefore
he appeals to the prophet himself whether they deserved to have any
countenance or encouragement given them: "<I>Should I be enquired of at
all by them?</I> Should I accept their enquiries as an honour to
myself, or answer them for satisfaction to them? No; they have no
reason to expect it;" for,
1. They <I>have set up their idols in their heart;</I> they not only
have idols, but they are in love with them, they dote upon them, are
wedded to them, and have laid them so near their hearts, and have given
them so great a room in their affections, that there is no parting with
them. The idols they have set up in their houses, though they are now
at a distance from <I>the chambers of their imagery,</I> yet they have
them in their hearts, and they are ever and anon worshipping them in
their fancies and imaginations. <I>They have made their idols to ascend
upon their hearts</I> (so the word is); they have subjected their
hearts to their idols, they are upon the throne there. Or when they
came to enquire of the prophet they pretended to put away their idols,
but it was in pretence only; they still had a secret reserve for them.
They kept them <I>up in their hearts;</I> and, if they left them for a
while, it was <I>cum animo revertendi--with an intention to return to
them,</I> not a final farewell. Or it may be understood of spiritual
idolatry; those whose affections are placed upon the wealth of the
world and the pleasures of sense, whose god is their money, <I>whose
god is their belly,</I> they <I>set up their idols in their heart.</I>
Many who have no idols in their sanctuary have idols in their hearts,
which is no less a usurpation of God's throne and a profanation of his
name. <I>Little children, keep yourselves from</I> those <I>idols.</I>
2. They <I>put the stumbling-block of their iniquity before their
face.</I> Their <I>silver and gold</I> were called <I>the
stumbling-block of their iniquity</I>
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Eze+7:19"><I>ch.</I> vii. 19</A>),
their <I>idols of silver and gold,</I> by the beauty of which they were
allured to idolatry, and so it was the block at which they stumbled,
and fell into that sin; or <I>their iniquity</I> is their
<I>stumbling-block,</I> which throws them down, so that they fall into
ruin. Note, Sinners are their own tempters (<I>every man is tempted
when he is drawn aside of his own lust</I>), and so they are their own
destroyers. <I>If thou scornest, thou alone shalt bear it;</I> and thus
<I>they put the stumbling-block of their iniquity before their</I> own
<I>faces,</I> and stumble upon it though they see it before their eyes.
It intimates that they are resolved to go on in sin, whatever comes of
it. <I>I have loved strangers, and after them I will go;</I> that is
the language of their hearts. And <I>should</I> God <I>be enquired
of</I> by such wretches? Do they not hereby rather put an affront upon
him than do him any honour, as those did who <I>bowed the knee</I> to
Christ in mockery? Can those expect an answer of peace from God who
thus continue their acts of hostility against him? "Ezekiel, what
thinkest thou of it?"</P>
<P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
III. The answer which God, in just displeasure, orders Ezekiel to give
them,
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Eze+14:4"><I>v.</I> 4</A>.
Let them know that it is not out of any disrespect to their persons
that God refuses to give them an answer, but it is laid down as a rule
for <I>every man of the house of Israel,</I> whoever he be, that if he
continue in love and league with his idols, and come to enquire of God,
God will resent it as an indignity done to him, and will answer him
according to his real iniquity, not according to his pretended piety.
He <I>comes to the prophet,</I> who, he expects, will be civil to him,
but God will give him his answer, by punishing him for his impudence:
<I>I the Lord,</I> who <I>speak and it is done, I will answer him that
cometh, according to the multitude of his idols.</I> Observe, Those who
<I>set up idols in their hearts,</I> and set their hearts upon their
idols, commonly have a multitude of them. Humble worshippers God
answers <I>according to the multitude of his mercies,</I> but bold
intruders he answers <I>according to the multitude of their idols,</I>
that is,
1. According to the desire of their idols; he will give them up <I>to
their own hearts' lust,</I> and leave them to themselves to be as bad
as they have a mind to be, till they <I>have filled up the measure of
their iniquity.</I> Men's corruptions are <I>idols in their hearts,</I>
and they are of their own setting up; their temptations are <I>the
stumbling-block of their iniquity,</I> and they are of their own
putting, and God will answer them accordingly; let them take their
course.
2. According to the desert of their idols; they shall have such an
answer as it is just that such idolaters should have. God will punish
them as he usually punishes idolaters, that is, when they stand in need
of his help he will <I>send them to the gods whom they have chosen,</I>
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jdg+10:13,14">Judg. x. 13, 14</A>.
Note, The judgment of God will dwell with men according to what they
are really (that is, according to what their hearts are), not according
to what they are in show and profession. And what will be the end of
this? What will this threatened answer amount to? He tells them
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Eze+14:5"><I>v.</I> 5</A>):
<I>That I may take the house of Israel in their own heart,</I> may lay
them open to the world, that they may be ashamed; nay, lay them open to
the curse, that they may be ruined. Note, The sin and shame, and pain
and ruin, of sinners, are all from themselves, and their own hearts are
the snares in which they are taken; they seduce them, they betray them;
their own consciences witness against them, condemn them, and are a
terror to them. If God take them, if he discover them, if he convict
them, if he bind them over to his judgment, it is all by <I>their own
hearts. O Israel! thou hast destroyed thyself. The house of Israel</I>
is ruined by its own hands, <I>because they are all estranged from me
through their idols.</I> Note,
(1.) The ruin of sinners is owing to their estrangement from God.
(2.) It is through some idol or other that the hearts of men are
estranged from God; some creature has gained that place and dominion in
the heart that God should have.</P>
<P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
IV. The extent of this answer which God had given them--to all <I>the
house of Israel,</I>
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Eze+14:7,8"><I>v.</I> 7, 8</A>.
The same thing is repeated, which intimates God's just displeasure
against hypocrites, who mock him with the shows and forms of devotion,
while their hearts are estranged from him and at war with him. Observe,
1. To whom this declaration belongs. It concerns not only every one of
the house of Israel (as before,
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Eze+14:4"><I>v.</I> 4</A>),
but <I>the stranger that sojourns in Israel;</I> let him not think it
will be an excuse for him in his idolatries that he is but a stranger
and a sojourner in Israel, and does but worship the gods that his
father served and that he himself was bred up in the service of; no,
let him not expect any benefit from Israel's oracles or prophets unless
he thoroughly renounce his idolatry. Note, Even proselytes shall not be
countenanced if they be not sincere: a dissembled conversion is no
conversion.
2. The description here given of hypocrites: They <I>separate
themselves from</I> God by their fellowship with idols; they cut
themselves off from their relation to God and their interest in him;
they break off their acquaintance and intercourse with him, and set
themselves at a distance from him. Note, Those that join themselves to
idols separate themselves from God; nor shall any be for ever separated
from the vision and fruition of God, but such as now separate
themselves from his service and wilfully withdraw their allegiance from
him. But there are those who thus separate themselves from God, and yet
come to the prophets with a seeming respect and deference to their
office, <I>to enquire of them concerning</I> God, in order to satisfy a
vain curiosity, to stop the mouth of a clamorous conscience, or to get
or save a reputation among men, but without any desire to be acquainted
with God or any design to be ruled by him.
3. The doom of those who thus trifle with God and think to impose upon
him: "<I>I the Lord will answer him by myself;</I> let me alone to deal
with him; I will give him an answer that shall fill him with confusion,
that shall make him repent of his daring impiety." He shall have his
answer, not by the words of the prophet, but by the judgments of God.
<I>And I will set my face against that man,</I> which denotes great
displeasure against him and a fixed resolution to ruin him. God can
outface the most impenitent sinner. The hypocrite thought to save his
credit, nay, and to gain applause, but, on the contrary, God <I>will
make him a sign and a proverb,</I> will inflict such judgments upon him
as shall make him remarkable and contemptible in the eyes of all about
him; his misery shall be made use of to express the greatest misery, as
when the worst of sinners are said to have <I>their portion appointed
them with hypocrites,</I>
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Mt+24:51">Matt. xxiv. 51</A>.
God will make him an example; his judgments upon him shall be for
warning to others to take heed of mocking God: for <I>thus shall it be
done to the man that separates himself from</I> God, and yet pretends
to <I>enquire concerning him.</I> The hypocrite thought to pass for one
of God's people, and to crowd into heaven among them; but God <I>will
cut him off from the midst of his people,</I> will discover him, and
pluck him out from the thickest of them; and by this, says God, <I>you
shall know that I am the Lord.</I> By the discovery of hypocrites it
appears that God is omniscient: ministers know not how people stand
affected when they come to hear the word, by God does. And by the
punishment of hypocrites it appears that he is a jealous God, and one
that cannot and will not be imposed upon.</P>
<P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
V. The doom of those pretenders to prophecy who give countenance to
these pretenders to piety,
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Eze+14:9,10"><I>v.</I> 9, 10</A>.
These hypocritical enquirers, though Ezekiel will not give them a
comfortable answer, yet hope to meet with some other prophets that
will; and if they do, as perhaps they may, let them know that God
permits those lying prophets to deceive them in part of punishment:
"<I>If the prophet</I> that flatters them <I>be deceived,</I> and gives
them hopes which there is no ground for, <I>I the Lord have deceived
that prophet,</I> have suffered the temptation to be laid before him,
and suffered him to yield to it, and overruled it for the hardening of
those in their wicked courses who were resolved to go on in them." We
are sure that God is not the author of sin, but we are sure that he is
the Lord of all and the Judge of sinners, and that he often makes use
of one wicked man to destroy another, and so of one wicked man to
deceive another. Both are sins in him who does them, and so they are
<I>not</I> from God; both are punishments to him to whom they are done,
and so they <I>are</I> from God. We have a full instance of this in the
story of Ahab's prophets, who were deceived by a lying spirit, which
God put into their mouths
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=1Ki+22:23">1 Kings xxii. 23</A>),
and another in those whom God <I>gives up to strong delusions, to
believe a lie, because they received not the love of the truth,</I>
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=2Th+2:10,11">2 Thess. ii. 10, 11</A>.
But read the fearful doom of the lying prophet: <I>I will stretch out
my hand upon him and will destroy him.</I> When God has served his own
righteous purposes by him he shall be reckoned with for his unrighteous
purposes. As, when God had made use of the Chaldeans for the wasting
of a sinful people, he justly punished them for their rage, so when he
had made use of <I>false prophets,</I> and afterwards of <I>false
Christs,</I> for the deceiving of a sinful people, he justly punished
them for their falsehood. But herein we must acknowledge (as Calvin
upon this place reminds us) that God's <I>judgments are a great
deep,</I> that we are incompetent judges of them, and that, though we
cannot account for the equity of God's proceedings to the satisfying
and silencing of every caviller, yet there is a day coming when he will
be justified before all the world, and particularly in this instance,
when <I>the punishment of the prophet</I> that flattereth the hypocrite
in his evil way shall be as the punishment of the hypocrite that
seeketh to him and bespeaks <I>smooth things</I> only,
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+30:10">Isa. xxx. 10</A>.
The ditch shall be the same to the blind leader and the blind
followers.</P>
<P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
VI. The good counsel that is given them for the preventing of this
fearful doom
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Eze+14:6"><I>v.</I> 6</A>):
"<I>Therefore repent, and turn yourselves from your idols.</I> Let
<I>this</I> separate between you and them, that they separate between
you and God; because they set God's face against you, do you <I>turn
away your faces from them,</I>" which denotes, not only forsaking them,
but forsaking them with loathing and detestation: "Turn from them as
from abominations that you are sick of; and then you will be welcome to
enquire of the Lord. <I>Come now, and let us reason together.</I>"</P>
<P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
VII. The good issue of all this as to the house of Israel;
<I>therefore</I> the pretending prophets, and the pretending saints,
shall perish together by the judgments of God, that, some being made
examples, the body of the people may be reformed, <I>that the house of
Israel may go no more astray from me,</I>
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Eze+14:11"><I>v.</I> 11</A>.
Note, The punishments of some are designed for the prevention of sin,
that others may hear, and fear, and take warning. When we see what
becomes of those that go astray from God we should thereby be engaged
to keep close to him. And, if <I>the house of Israel go not astray,
they will not be polluted any more.</I> Note, Sin is a polluting thing;
it renders the sinner odious in the eyes of the pure and holy God, and
in his own eyes too whenever conscience is awakened; and therefore they
shall <I>no more be polluted, that they may be my people and I may be
their God.</I> Note, Those whom God takes into covenant with himself
must first be cleansed from the pollutions of sin; and those who are so
cleansed shall not only be saved from ruin, but be entitled to all the
privileges of God's people.</P>
<A NAME="Eze14_12"> </A>
<A NAME="Eze14_13"> </A>
<A NAME="Eze14_14"> </A>
<A NAME="Eze14_15"> </A>
<A NAME="Eze14_16"> </A>
<A NAME="Eze14_17"> </A>
<A NAME="Eze14_18"> </A>
<A NAME="Eze14_19"> </A>
<A NAME="Eze14_20"> </A>
<A NAME="Eze14_21"> </A>
<A NAME="Eze14_22"> </A>
<A NAME="Eze14_23"> </A>
<A NAME="Sec2"> </A>
<TABLE WIDTH="100%" BORDER=0>
<TR><TD><FONT SIZE=+1><I>Destruction of the People Determined; The Variety of the Divine Judgment; A Remnant Preserved.</I></FONT></TD>
<TD VALIGN=BOTTOM ALIGN=RIGHT><FONT SIZE=-1>B.&nbsp;C.</FONT>&nbsp;593.</TD></TR>
<TR><TD COLSPAN=2><HR SIZE=1></TD></TR>
</TABLE>
<P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
<FONT SIZE=+1>12 The word of the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT> came again to me, saying,
&nbsp; 13 Son of man, when the land sinneth against me by trespassing
grievously, then will I stretch out mine hand upon it, and will
break the staff of the bread thereof, and will send famine upon
it, and will cut off man and beast from it:
&nbsp; 14 Though these three men, Noah, Daniel, and Job, were in it,
they should deliver <I>but</I> their own souls by their righteousness,
saith the Lord G<FONT SIZE=-1><B>OD</B></FONT>.
&nbsp; 15 If I cause noisome beasts to pass through the land, and they
spoil it, so that it be desolate, that no man may pass through
because of the beasts:
&nbsp; 16 <I>Though</I> these three men <I>were</I> in it, <I>as</I> I live, saith
the Lord G<FONT SIZE=-1><B>OD</B></FONT>, they shall deliver neither sons nor daughters; they
only shall be delivered, but the land shall be desolate.
&nbsp; 17 Or <I>if</I> I bring a sword upon that land, and say, Sword, go
through the land; so that I cut off man and beast from it:
&nbsp; 18 Though these three men <I>were</I> in it, <I>as</I> I live, saith the
Lord G<FONT SIZE=-1><B>OD</B></FONT>, they shall deliver neither sons nor daughters, but they
only shall be delivered themselves.
&nbsp; 19 Or <I>if</I> I send a pestilence into that land, and pour out my
fury upon it in blood, to cut off from it man and beast:
&nbsp; 20 Though Noah, Daniel, and Job, <I>were</I> in it, <I>as</I> I live,
saith the Lord G<FONT SIZE=-1><B>OD</B></FONT>, they shall deliver neither son nor daughter;
they shall <I>but</I> deliver their own souls by their righteousness.
&nbsp; 21 For thus saith the Lord G<FONT SIZE=-1><B>OD</B></FONT>; How much more when I send my
four sore judgments upon Jerusalem, the sword, and the famine,
and the noisome beast, and the pestilence, to cut off from it man
and beast?
&nbsp; 22 Yet, behold, therein shall be left a remnant that shall be
brought forth, <I>both</I> sons and daughters: behold, they shall come
forth unto you, and ye shall see their way and their doings: and
ye shall be comforted concerning the evil that I have brought
upon Jerusalem, <I>even</I> concerning all that I have brought upon
it.
&nbsp; 23 And they shall comfort you, when ye see their ways and their
doings: and ye shall know that I have not done without cause all
that I have done in it, saith the Lord G<FONT SIZE=-1><B>OD</B></FONT>.
</FONT></P>
<P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
The scope of these verses is to show,</P>
<P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
I. That national sins bring national judgments. When virtue is ruined
and laid waste every thing else will soon be ruined and laid waste too
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Eze+14:13"><I>v.</I> 13</A>):
<I>When the land sins against me,</I> when vice and wickedness become
epidemical, <I>when the land sins by trespassing grievously,</I> when
the sinners have become very numerous and their sins very heinous, when
gross impieties and immoralities universally prevail, <I>then will I
stretch forth my hand upon it,</I> for the punishment of it. The divine
power shall be vigorously and openly exerted; the judgments shall be
extended and stretched forth to all the corners of the land, to all the
concerns and interests of the nation. Grievous sins bring grievous
plagues.</P>
<P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
II. That God has a variety of sore judgments wherewith to punish sinful
nations, and he has them all at command and inflicts which he pleases.
He did indeed give David his choice what judgment he would be punished
with for his sin in numbering the people; for any of them would serve
to answer the end, which was to lessen the numbers he was proud of; but
David, in effect, referred it to God again: "<I>Let us fall into the
hands of the Lord;</I> let him choose with what rod we shall be
beaten." But he uses a variety of judgments that it may appear he has a
universal dominion, and that in all our concerns we may see our
dependence on him. <I>Four sore judgments</I> are here specified:--
1. <I>Famine,</I>
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Eze+14:13"><I>v.</I> 13</A>.
The denying and withholding of common mercies is itself judgment
enough, there needs no more to make a people miserable. God needs not
bring the staff of oppression, it is but <I>breaking the staff of
bread</I> and the work is soon done; he <I>cuts off man and beast</I>
by cutting off the provisions which nature makes for both in the annual
products of the earth. God <I>breaks the staff of bread</I> when,
though we have bread, yet we are not nourished and strengthened by it.
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Hag+1:6">Hag. i. 6</A>,
<I>You eat, but you have not enough.</I>
2. Hurtful <I>beasts, noisome</I> and noxious, either as poisonous or
as ravenous. God can make these <I>to pass through the land</I>
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Eze+14:15><I>v.</I> 15</A>),
to increase in all parts of it, and to bereave it, not only of the tame
cattle, preying upon their flocks and herds, but of their people,
devouring men, women, and children, so <I>that no man may pass through
because of the beasts;</I> none dare travel even in the high roads for
fear of being pulled in pieces by lions, or other beasts of prey, as
the children of Beth-el by two bears. Note, When men revolt from their
allegiance to God, and rebel against him, it is just with God that the
inferior creatures should rise up in arms against men,
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Le+26:22">Lev. xxvi. 22</A>.
3. War. God often chastises sinful nations by bringing a sword upon
them, the sword of a foreign enemy, and he gives it its commission and
orders what execution it shall do
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Eze+14:17"><I>v.</I> 17</A>):
he says, <I>Sword, go through the land.</I> It is bad enough if the
sword do but enter into the borders of a land, but much worse when it
goes through the bowels of a land. By it God <I>cuts off man and
beast,</I> horse and foot. What execution the sword does God does by
it; for it is his sword, and it acts as he directs.
4. <I>Pestilence</I>
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Eze+14:19"><I>v.</I> 19</A>),
a dreadful disease, which has sometimes depopulated cities; by it God
<I>pours out his fury in blood</I> (that is, in death); the pestilence
kills as effectually as if the blood were shed by the sword, for it is
poisoned by the disease, <I>the sickness</I> we call it. See how
miserable the case of mankind is that lies thus exposed to deaths in
various shapes. See how dangerous the case of sinners is against whom
God has so many ways of fighting, so that, though they escape one
judgment, God has another waiting for them.</P>
<P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
III. That when God's professing people revolt from him, and rebel
against him, they may justly expect a complication of judgments to fall
upon them. God has various ways of contending with a sinful nation; but
if Jerusalem, the holy city, <I>become a harlot,</I> God will send upon
her all his <I>four sore judgments</I>
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Eze+14:21"><I>v.</I> 21</A>);
for the nearer any are to God in name and profession the more severely
will he reckon with them if they reproach that worthy name by which
they are called and give the lie to that profession. They shall be
punished <I>seven times more.</I></P>
<P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
IV. That there may be, and commonly are, some few very good men, even
in those places that by sin are ripened for ruin. It is no foreign
supposition that, even in a land that has <I>trespassed grievously,</I>
there may be <I>three</I> such <I>men</I> as <I>Noah, Daniel, and
Job.</I> Daniel was now living, and at this time had scarcely arrived
at the prime of his eminency, but he was already famous (at least this
word of God concerning him would without fail make him so); yet he was
carried away into captivity with the first of all,
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Da+1:6">Dan. i. 6</A>.
Some of the better sort of people in Jerusalem might perhaps think
that, if Daniel (of whose fame in the king of Babylon's court they had
heard much) had but continued in Jerusalem, it would have been spared
for his sake, as the magicians in Babylon were. "No," says God, "though
you had him, who was as eminently good in bad times and places as Noah
in the old world and Job in the land of Uz, yet a reprieve should not
be obtained." In the places that are most corrupt, and in the ages that
are most degenerate, <I>there is a remnant</I> which God reserves to
himself, and which <I>still hold fast their integrity</I> and stand
fair for the honour of <I>delivering the land,</I> as <I>the
innocent</I> are said to do,
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+22:30">Job xxii. 30</A>.</P>
<P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
V. That God often spares very wicked places for the sake of a few godly
people in them. This is implied here as the expectation of Jerusalem's
friends in the day of its distress: "Surely God will stay his
controversy with us; for are there not some among us that are emptying
the measure of national guilt by their prayers, as others are filling
it by their sins? And, rather than God will <I>destroy the righteous
with the wicked,</I> he will preserve <I>the wicked with the
righteous.</I> If Sodom might have been spared for the sake of ten good
men, surely Jerusalem may."</P>
<P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
VI. That such men as Noah, Daniel, and Job, will prevail, if any can,
to turn away the wrath of God from a sinful people. Noah was a perfect
man, and kept his integrity when all flesh had corrupted their way;
and, for his sake, his family, though one of them was wicked (Ham), was
saved in the ark. Job was a great example of piety, and mighty in
prayer for his children, for his friends; and God turned his captivity
when he prayed. Those were very ancient examples, before Moses, that
great intercessor; and therefore God mentions them, to intimate that he
had some very peculiar favourites long before the Jewish nation was
formed or founded, and would have such when it was ruined, for which
reason, it should seem, those names were made use of, rather than
Moses, Aaron, or Samuel; and yet, lest any should think that God was
partial in his respects to the ancient days, here is a modern instance,
a living one, placed between those two that were the glories of
antiquity, and he now a captive, and that is Daniel, to teach us not to
lessen the useful good men of our own day by over-magnifying the
ancients. Let the children of the captivity know that Daniel, their
neighbour, and <I>companion in tribulation,</I> being a man of great
humility, piety, and zeal for God, and instant and constant in prayer,
had as good an interest in heaven as Noah or Job had. Why may not God
raise up as great and good men now as he did formerly, and do as much
for them?</P>
<P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
VII. That when the sin of a people has come to its height, and the
decree has gone forth for their ruin, the piety and prayers of the best
men shall not prevail to finish the controversy. This is here asserted
again and again, that, <I>though these three men were in</I> Jerusalem
at this time, yet they should <I>deliver neither son nor daughter;</I>
not so much as the little ones should be spared for their sakes, as the
little ones of Israel were upon the prayer of Moses,
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Nu+14:31">Num. xiv. 31</A>.
No; <I>the land shall be desolate,</I> and God would not hear their
prayers for it, though <I>Moses and Samuel stood before him,</I>
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+15:1">Jer. xv. 1</A>.
Note, Abused patience will turn at last into inexorable wrath; and it
should seem as if God would be more inexorable in Jerusalem's case than
in another
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Eze+14:6"><I>v.</I> 6</A>),
because, besides the divine patience, they had enjoyed greater
privileges than any other people, which were the aggravations of their
sin.</P>
<P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
VIII. That, though pious praying men may not prevail to deliver others,
yet <I>they shall deliver their own souls by their righteousness,</I>
so that, though they may suffer in the common calamity, yet to them the
property of it is altered; it is not to them what it is to the wicked;
it is unstrung, and does them no hurt; it is sanctified, and does them
good. Sometimes <I>their souls</I> (their lives) are remarkably
<I>delivered,</I> and <I>given them for a prey;</I> at least <I>their
souls</I> (their spiritual interests) are secured. If their bodies be
not <I>delivered,</I> yet <I>their souls</I> are. <I>Riches</I> indeed
<I>profit not in the day of wrath,</I> but <I>righteousness delivers
from death,</I> from so great a death, so many deaths as are here
threatened. This should encourage us to keep our integrity in times of
common apostasy, that, if we do so, we shall be <I>hidden in the day of
the Lord's anger.</I></P>
<P> &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;
IX. That, even when God makes the greatest desolations by his
judgments, he reserves some to be the monuments of his mercy,
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Eze+14:22,23"><I>v.</I> 22, 23</A>.
In Jerusalem itself, though marked for utter ruin, yet <I>there shall
be left a remnant,</I> who shall not be cut off by any of those <I>sore
judgments</I> before mentioned, but shall be carried into captivity,
both <I>sons and daughters,</I> who shall be the seed of a new
generation. The young ones, who had not grown up to such an obstinacy
in sin as their fathers had who were therefore cut off as incurable,
these <I>shall be brought forth</I> out of the ruins of Jerusalem by
the victorious enemy, and <I>behold they shall come forth to you</I>
that are in captivity, they shall make a virtue of a necessity, and
shall come the more willingly to Babylon because so many of their
friends have gone thither before them and are there ready to receive
them; and, when they come, <I>you shall see their ways and their
doing;</I> you shall hear them make a free and ingenuous confession of
the sins they had formerly been guilty of, and a humble profession of
repentance for them, with promises of reformation; and you shall see
instances of their reformation, shall see what good their affliction
has done them, and how prudently and patiently they conduct themselves
under it. Their narrow escape shall have a good effect upon them; it
shall change their temper and conversation, and make them new men. And
this will redound,
1. To the satisfaction of their brethren: <I>They shall comfort you
when you see their ways.</I> Note, It is a very comfortable sight to
see people, when they are under the rod, repenting and humbling
themselves, justifying God and accepting the punishment of their
iniquity. When we sorrow (as we ought to do) for the afflictions of
others, it is a great comfort to us in our sorrow to see them improving
their afflictions and making a good use of them. When those captives
told their friends how bad they had been, and how righteous God was in
bringing these judgments upon them, it made them very easy, and helped
to reconcile them to the calamities of Jerusalem, to the justice of God
in punishing his own people so, and to the goodness of God, which now
appeared to have had kind intentions in all; and thus "<I>You shall be
comforted concerning all the evil that I have brought upon
Jerusalem,</I> and, when you better understand the thing, shall not
have such direful apprehensions concerning it as you have had." Note,
It is a debt we owe to our brethren, if we have got good by our
afflictions, to comfort them by letting them know it.
2. It will redound to the honour of God: "<I>You shall know that I have
not done without cause,</I> not without a just provocation, and yet not
without a gracious design, <I>all that I have done in it.</I>" Note,
When afflictions have done their work, and have accomplished that for
which they were sent, then will appear the wisdom and goodness of God
in sending them, and God will be not only justified, but glorified in
them.</P>
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