mh_parser/vol_split/26 - Ezekiel/Chapter 6.xml

<div2 id="Ez.vii" n="vii" next="Ez.viii" prev="Ez.vi" progress="51.95%" title="Chapter VI">
<h2 id="Ez.vii-p0.1">E Z E K I E L.</h2>
<h3 id="Ez.vii-p0.2">CHAP. VI.</h3>
<p class="intro" id="Ez.vii-p1" shownumber="no">In this chapter we have, I. A threatening of the
destruction of Israel for their idolatry, and the destruction of
their idols with them, <scripRef id="Ez.vii-p1.1" osisRef="Bible:Ezek.6.1-Ezek.6.7" parsed="|Ezek|6|1|6|7" passage="Eze 6:1-7">ver.
1-7</scripRef>. II. A promise of the gracious return of a remnant
of them to God, by true repentance and reformation, <scripRef id="Ez.vii-p1.2" osisRef="Bible:Ezek.6.8-Ezek.6.10" parsed="|Ezek|6|8|6|10" passage="Eze 6:8-10">ver. 8-10</scripRef>. III. Directions given to
the prophet and others, the Lord's servants, to lament both the
iniquities and the calamities of Israel, <scripRef id="Ez.vii-p1.3" osisRef="Bible:Ezek.6.11-Ezek.6.14" parsed="|Ezek|6|11|6|14" passage="Eze 6:11-14">ver. 11-14</scripRef>.</p>
<scripCom id="Ez.vii-p1.4" osisRef="Bible:Ezek.6" parsed="|Ezek|6|0|0|0" passage="Eze 6" type="Commentary"/>
<scripCom id="Ez.vii-p1.5" osisRef="Bible:Ezek.6.1-Ezek.6.7" parsed="|Ezek|6|1|6|7" passage="Eze 6:1-7" type="Commentary"/><div class="Commentary" id="Ez.vii-p1.6">
<h4 id="Ez.vii-p1.7">The Destruction of Idolatry. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Ez.vii-p1.8">b. c.</span> 594.)</h4>
<p class="passage" id="Ez.vii-p2" shownumber="no">1 And the word of the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ez.vii-p2.1">Lord</span> came unto me, saying,   2 Son of man,
set thy face toward the mountains of Israel, and prophesy against
them,   3 And say, Ye mountains of Israel, hear the word of
the Lord <span class="smallcaps" id="Ez.vii-p2.2">God</span>; Thus saith the Lord
<span class="smallcaps" id="Ez.vii-p2.3">God</span> to the mountains, and to the
hills, to the rivers, and to the valleys; Behold, I, <i>even</i> I,
will bring a sword upon you, and I will destroy your high places.
  4 And your altars shall be desolate, and your images shall
be broken: and I will cast down your slain <i>men</i> before your
idols.   5 And I will lay the dead carcases of the children of
Israel before their idols; and I will scatter your bones round
about your altars.   6 In all your dwelling-places the cities
shall be laid waste, and the high places shall be desolate; that
your altars may be laid waste and made desolate, and your idols may
be broken and cease, and your images may be cut down, and your
works may be abolished.   7 And the slain shall fall in the
midst of you, and ye shall know that I <i>am</i> the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ez.vii-p2.4">Lord</span>.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ez.vii-p3" shownumber="no">Here, I. The prophecy is directed to <i>the
mountains of Israel</i> (<scripRef id="Ez.vii-p3.1" osisRef="Bible:Ezek.6.1-Ezek.6.2" parsed="|Ezek|6|1|6|2" passage="Eze 6:1,2"><i>v.</i> 1,
2</scripRef>); the prophet must <i>set his face towards</i> them.
If he could see so far off as the land of Israel, <i>the
mountains</i> of that land would be first and furthest seen;
towards them therefore he must look, and look boldly and
stedfastly, as the judge looks at the prisoner, and directs his
speech to him, when he passes sentence upon him. Though <i>the
mountains of Israel</i> be ever so high and ever so strong, he must
<i>set his face against</i> them, as having judgments to denounce
that should shake their foundation. <i>The mountains of Israel</i>
had been <i>holy mountains,</i> but now that they had polluted them
with their high places God set his face against them and therefore
the prophet must. Israel is here put, not, as sometimes, for the
ten tribes, but for the whole land. <i>The mountains</i> are called
upon to <i>hear the word of the Lord,</i> to shame the inhabitants
that would not hear. The prophets might as soon gain attention from
the <i>mountains</i> as from that <i>rebellious and gainsaying
people,</i> to whom they all day long <i>stretched out their hands
in vain. Hear, O mountains! the Lord's controversy</i> (<scripRef id="Ez.vii-p3.2" osisRef="Bible:Mic.6.1-Mic.6.2" parsed="|Mic|6|1|6|2" passage="Mic 6:1,2">Mic. vi. 1, 2</scripRef>), for God's cause will
have a hearing, whether we hear it or no. But from <i>the mountains
the word of the Lord</i> echoes <i>to the hills, to the rivers, and
to the valleys;</i> for to them also <i>the Lord God</i> speaks,
intimating that the whole land is concerned in what is now to be
delivered and shall be witnesses against this people that they had
fair warning given them of the judgments coming, but they would not
take it; nay, they contradicted the message and persecuted the
messengers, so that God's prophets might more safely and
comfortably speak to <i>the hills and mountains</i> than to
them.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ez.vii-p4" shownumber="no">II. That which is threatened in this
prophecy is the utter destruction of the idols and the idolaters,
and both by the sword of war. God himself is commander-in-chief of
this expedition against <i>the mountains of Israel.</i> It is he
that says, <i>Behold, I, even I, will bring a sword upon you</i>
(<scripRef id="Ez.vii-p4.1" osisRef="Bible:Ezek.6.3" parsed="|Ezek|6|3|0|0" passage="Eze 6:3"><i>v.</i> 3</scripRef>); the sword of
the Chaldeans is at God's command, goes where he sends it, comes
where he brings it, and lights as he directs it. In the desolations
of that war,</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ez.vii-p5" shownumber="no">1. The idols and all their appurtenances
should be destroyed. The <i>high places,</i> which were on the tops
of mountains (<scripRef id="Ez.vii-p5.1" osisRef="Bible:Ezek.6.3" parsed="|Ezek|6|3|0|0" passage="Eze 6:3"><i>v.</i> 3</scripRef>),
shall be levelled <i>and made desolate</i> (<scripRef id="Ez.vii-p5.2" osisRef="Bible:Ezek.6.6" parsed="|Ezek|6|6|0|0" passage="Eze 6:6"><i>v.</i> 6</scripRef>); they shall not be beautified,
shall not be frequented as they had been. The <i>altars,</i> on
which they offered sacrifice and burnt incense to strange gods,
<i>shall be broken</i> to pieces and <i>laid waste;</i> the
<i>images</i> and <i>idols</i> shall be defaced, <i>shall be broken
and cease,</i> and be cut down, and all the fine costly works about
them shall be abolished, <scripRef id="Ez.vii-p5.3" osisRef="Bible:Ezek.6.4 Bible:Ezek.6.6" parsed="|Ezek|6|4|0|0;|Ezek|6|6|0|0" passage="Eze 6:4,6"><i>v.</i> 4,
6</scripRef>. Observe here, (1.) That war makes woeful desolations,
which those persons, places, and things that were esteemed most
sacred cannot escape; for <i>the sword devours one as well as
another.</i> (2.) That God sometimes ruins idolatries even by the
hands of idolaters, for such the Chaldeans themselves were; but, as
if the deity were a local thing, the greatest admirers of the gods
of their own country were the greatest despisers of the gods of
other countries. (3.) It is just with God to make that a desolation
which we make an idol of; for he is a jealous God and will not bear
a rival. (4.) If men do not, as they ought, destroy idolatry, God
will, first or last, find out a way to do it. When Josiah had
destroyed the high places, altars, and images, with the sword of
justice, they set them up again; but God will now destroy them with
the sword of war, and let us see who dares re-establish them.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ez.vii-p6" shownumber="no">2. The worshippers of idols and all their
adherents should be destroyed likewise. As <i>all their high places
shall be laid waste,</i> so shall all <i>their dwelling-places</i>
too, even <i>all their cities,</i> <scripRef id="Ez.vii-p6.1" osisRef="Bible:Ezek.6.6" parsed="|Ezek|6|6|0|0" passage="Eze 6:6"><i>v.</i> 6</scripRef>. Those that profane God's
dwelling-place as they had done can expect no other than that he
should abandon theirs, <scripRef id="Ez.vii-p6.2" osisRef="Bible:Ezek.5.11" parsed="|Ezek|5|11|0|0" passage="Eze 5:11"><i>ch.</i> v.
11</scripRef>. <i>If any man defile the temple of God, him will God
destroy,</i> <scripRef id="Ez.vii-p6.3" osisRef="Bible:1Cor.3.17" parsed="|1Cor|3|17|0|0" passage="1Co 3:17">1 Cor. iii.
17</scripRef>. It is here threatened that <i>their slain shall fall
in the midst of them</i> (<scripRef id="Ez.vii-p6.4" osisRef="Bible:Ezek.6.7" parsed="|Ezek|6|7|0|0" passage="Eze 6:7"><i>v.</i>
7</scripRef>); there shall be abundance slain, even in those places
which were thought most safe; but it is added as a remarkable
circumstance that they shall fall <i>before their idols</i>
(<scripRef id="Ez.vii-p6.5" osisRef="Bible:Ezek.6.4" parsed="|Ezek|6|4|0|0" passage="Eze 6:4"><i>v.</i> 4</scripRef>), that their
<i>dead carcases</i> should be <i>laid,</i> and their <i>bones
scattered, about their altars,</i> <scripRef id="Ez.vii-p6.6" osisRef="Bible:Ezek.6.5" parsed="|Ezek|6|5|0|0" passage="Eze 6:5"><i>v.</i> 5</scripRef>. (1.) Thus their idols should be
polluted, and those places profaned by the dead bodies which they
had had in veneration. If they will not <i>defile the covering of
their graven images,</i> God will, <scripRef id="Ez.vii-p6.7" osisRef="Bible:Isa.30.22" parsed="|Isa|30|22|0|0" passage="Isa 30:22">Isa. xxx. 22</scripRef>. The throwing of the carcases
among them, as upon the dunghill, intimates that they were but
dunghill-deities. (2.) Thus it was intimated that they were but
dead things, unfit to be rivals with <i>the living God;</i> for the
carcases of dead men, that, like them, <i>have eyes and see not,
ears and hear not,</i> were the fittest company for them. (3.) Thus
the idols were upbraided with their inability to help their
worshippers, and idolaters were upbraided with the folly of
trusting in them; for, it should seem, they fell by the sword of
the enemy when they were actually before their idols imploring
their aid and putting themselves under their protection.
Sennacherib was slain by his sons when he was <i>worshipping in the
house of his god.</i> (4.) The sin might be read in this
circumstance of the punishment; the <i>slain men</i> are <i>cast
before the idols,</i> to show that <i>therefore</i> they are slain,
because they worshipped those idols; see <scripRef id="Ez.vii-p6.8" osisRef="Bible:Jer.8.1-Jer.8.2" parsed="|Jer|8|1|8|2" passage="Jer 8:1,2">Jer. viii. 1, 2</scripRef>. Let the survivors observe
it, and take warning not to worship images; let them see it, and
know that <i>God is the Lord,</i> that <i>the Lord he is God</i>
and he alone.</p>
</div><scripCom id="Ez.vii-p6.9" osisRef="Bible:Ezek.6.8-Ezek.6.10" parsed="|Ezek|6|8|6|10" passage="Eze 6:8-10" type="Commentary"/><div class="Commentary" id="Ez.vii-p6.10">
<h4 id="Ez.vii-p6.11">Mercy Promised to the Penitent; Effect of
Repentance. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Ez.vii-p6.12">b. c.</span> 594.)</h4>
<p class="passage" id="Ez.vii-p7" shownumber="no">8 Yet will I leave a remnant, that ye may have
<i>some</i> that shall escape the sword among the nations, when ye
shall be scattered through the countries.   9 And they that
escape of you shall remember me among the nations whither they
shall be carried captives, because I am broken with their whorish
heart, which hath departed from me, and with their eyes, which go a
whoring after their idols: and they shall loathe themselves for the
evils which they have committed in all their abominations.  
10 And they shall know that I <i>am</i> the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ez.vii-p7.1">Lord</span>, <i>and that</i> I have not said in vain
that I would do this evil unto them.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ez.vii-p8" shownumber="no">Judgment had hitherto triumphed, but in
these verses mercy rejoices against judgment. A sad end is made of
this provoking people, but not a full end. The ruin seems to be
universal, and <i>yet will I leave a remnant,</i> a little remnant,
distinguished from the body of the people, a few of many, such as
are left when the rest perish; and it is God that leaves them. This
intimates that they deserved to be cut off with the rest, and would
have been cut off if God had not left them. See <scripRef id="Ez.vii-p8.1" osisRef="Bible:Isa.1.9" parsed="|Isa|1|9|0|0" passage="Isa 1:9">Isa. i. 9</scripRef>. And it is God who by his grace
works that in them which he has an eye to in sparing them. Now,</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ez.vii-p9" shownumber="no">I. It is a preserved remnant, saved from
the ruin which the body of the nation is involved in (<scripRef id="Ez.vii-p9.1" osisRef="Bible:Ezek.6.8" parsed="|Ezek|6|8|0|0" passage="Eze 6:8"><i>v.</i> 8</scripRef>): <i>That you may have
some who shall escape the sword.</i> God said (<scripRef id="Ez.vii-p9.2" osisRef="Bible:Ezek.5.12" parsed="|Ezek|5|12|0|0" passage="Eze 5:12"><i>ch.</i> v. 12</scripRef>) that he would <i>draw a
sword after those</i> who were <i>scattered,</i> that destruction
should pursue them in their dispersion; but here is <i>mercy
remembered in the midst of</i> that <i>wrath,</i> and a promise
that some of <i>the Jews of the dispersion,</i> as they were
afterwards called, should <i>escape the sword.</i> None of those
who were to <i>fall by the sword about</i> Jerusalem <i>shall
escape;</i> for they trust to Jerusalem's walls for security, and
shall be made ashamed of that vain confidence. But some of them
<i>shall escape the sword among the nations,</i> where, being
deprived of all other stays, they stay themselves upon God only.
They are said to <i>have</i> those who shall <i>escape;</i> for
they shall be the seed of another generation, out of which
Jerusalem shall flourish again.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ez.vii-p10" shownumber="no">II. It is a penitent remnant (<scripRef id="Ez.vii-p10.1" osisRef="Bible:Ezek.6.9" parsed="|Ezek|6|9|0|0" passage="Eze 6:9"><i>v.</i> 9</scripRef>): <i>Those who escape of
you shall remember me.</i> Note, To those whom god designs for life
he will give <i>repentance unto life.</i> They are reprieved, and
<i>escape the sword,</i> that they may have time to return to God.
Note, God's patience both leaves room for repentance and is an
encouragement to sinners to repent. Where God designs grace to
repent he allows space to repent; yet many who have the space want
the grace, many who <i>escape the sword</i> do not forsake the sin,
as it is promised that these shall do. This remnant, here marked
for salvation, is a type of the remnant reserved out of the body of
mankind to be monuments of mercy, who are made safe in the same way
that these were, by being brought to repentance. Now observe
here,</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ez.vii-p11" shownumber="no">1. The occasion of their repentance, and
that is a mixture of judgment and mercy-judgment, that they were
<i>carried captives,</i> but mercy, that they <i>escaped the
sword</i> in the land of their captivity. They were driven out of
their own land, but not out of the land of the living, <i>not
chased out of the world,</i> as other were and they deserved to be.
Note, The consideration of the just rebukes of Providence we are
under, and yet of the mercy mixed with them, should engage us to
repent, that we may answer God's end in both. And true repentance
shall be accepted of God, though we are brought to it by our
troubles; nay, sanctified afflictions often prove means of
conversion, as to Manasseh.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ez.vii-p12" shownumber="no">2. The root and principle of their
repentance: <i>They shall remember me among the nations.</i> Those
who <i>forgot God</i> in the land of their peace and prosperity,
who <i>waxed fat and kicked,</i> were brought to remember him in
the land of their captivity. The prodigal son never bethought
himself of his father's house till he was ready to perish for
hunger in the far country. Their remembering God was the first step
they took in returning to him. Note, Then there begins to be some
hopes of sinners when they have sinned against the Lord, and to enquire,
<i>Where is God my Maker?</i> Sin takes rise in forgetting God,
<scripRef id="Ez.vii-p12.1" osisRef="Bible:Jer.3.21" parsed="|Jer|3|21|0|0" passage="Jer 3:21">Jer. iii. 21</scripRef>. Repentance
takes rise from the remembrance of him and of our obligations to
him. God says, <i>They shall remember me,</i> that is, "I will give
them grace to do so;" for otherwise they would for ever forget him.
That grace shall find them out wherever they are, and by bringing
God to their mind shall bring them to their right mind. The
prodigal, when he remembered his father, remembered how he has
<i>sinned against Heaven and before</i> him; so do these penitents.
(1.) They remember the base affront they had put upon God by their
idolatries, and this is that which an ingenuous repentance fastens
upon and most sadly laments. They had departed from God to idols,
and given that honour to pretended deities, the creatures of men's
fancies and the work of men's hands, which they should have given
to the God of Israel. They <i>departed from</i> God, from his word,
which they should have made their rule, from his work, which they
should have made their business. <i>Their hearts departed from</i>
him. The heart, which he requires and insists upon, and without
which <i>bodily exercise profits nothing,</i> the <i>heart,</i>
which should be set upon him, and carried out towards him, when
that <i>departs from</i> him, is as the treacherous elopement of a
wife from her husband or the rebellious revolt of a subject from
his sovereign. <i>Their eyes</i> also <i>go after their idols;</i>
they doted on them, and had great expectations from them. Their
hearts followed their eyes in the choice of their gods (they must
have gods that they could see), and then their eyes followed their
hearts in the adoration of them. Now the malignity of this sin is
that it is spiritual whoredom; it is a <i>whorish heart</i> that
<i>departs from</i> God; and they are <i>eyes</i> that <i>go a
whoring after their idols.</i> Note, Idolatry is spiritual
whoredom; it is the breach of a marriage-covenant with God; it is
the setting of the affections upon that which is a rival with him,
and the indulgence of a base lust, which deceives and defiles the
soul, and is a great wrong to God in his honour, (2.) They remember
what a grief this was to him and how he resented it. They shall
remember <i>that I am broken with their whorish heart and their
eyes</i> that are full of this spiritual adultery, not only angry
at it, but grieved, as a husband is at the lewdness of a wife whom
he dearly loved, grieved to such a degree that he is broken with
it; it breaks his heart to think that he should be so
disingenuously dealt with; he is broken as an aged father is with
the undutiful behaviour of a rebellious and disobedient son, which
sinks his spirits and makes him to stoop. <i>Forty years long was I
grieved with this generation,</i> <scripRef id="Ez.vii-p12.2" osisRef="Bible:Ps.95.10" parsed="|Ps|95|10|0|0" passage="Ps 95:10">Ps.
xcv. 10</scripRef>. <i>God's measures were broken</i> (so some); a
stop was put to the current of his favours towards them, and he was
even compelled to punish them. This they shall remember in the day
of their repentance, and it shall affect and humble them more than
any thing, not so much that their peace was broken, and their
country broken, as <i>that God was broken</i> by their sin. Thus
<i>they shall look on him whom they have pierced and shall
mourn,</i> <scripRef id="Ez.vii-p12.3" osisRef="Bible:Zech.12.10" parsed="|Zech|12|10|0|0" passage="Zec 12:10">Zech. xii. 10</scripRef>.
Note, Nothing grieves a true penitent so much as to think that his
sin has been a grief to God and to the Spirit of his grace.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ez.vii-p13" shownumber="no">3. The product and evidence of their
repentance: <i>They shall loathe themselves for the evils which
they have committed in all their abominations.</i> Thus God will
give them grace to qualify them for pardon and deliverance. Though
he had been <i>broken by their whorish heart,</i> yet he would not
quite cast them off. See <scripRef id="Ez.vii-p13.1" osisRef="Bible:Isa.57.17-Isa.57.18 Bible:Hos.2.13-Hos.2.14" parsed="|Isa|57|17|57|18;|Hos|2|13|2|14" passage="Isa 57:17,18,Ho 2:13,14">Isa. lvii. 17, 18; Hos. ii. 13,
14</scripRef>. His goodness takes occasion from their badness to
appear the more illustrious. Note, (1.) True penitents see sin to
be an abominable thing, that <i>abominable thing which the Lord
hates</i> and which makes sinners, and even their services, odious
to him, <scripRef id="Ez.vii-p13.2" osisRef="Bible:Jer.44.4 Bible:Isa.1.11" parsed="|Jer|44|4|0|0;|Isa|1|11|0|0" passage="Jer 44:4,Isa 1:11">Jer. xliv. 4; Isa. i.
11</scripRef>. It defiles the sinner's own conscience, and makes
him, unless he be past feeling, an abomination to himself. An idol
is particularly called <i>an abomination,</i> <scripRef id="Ez.vii-p13.3" osisRef="Bible:Isa.44.19" parsed="|Isa|44|19|0|0" passage="Isa 44:19">Isa. xliv. 19</scripRef>. Those gratifications which
the hearts of sinners were set upon as delectable things the hearts
of penitents are turned against as detestable things. (2.) There
are many <i>evils committed in these abominations,</i> many
included in them, attendant on them, and flowing from them, many
transgressions in one sin, <scripRef id="Ez.vii-p13.4" osisRef="Bible:Lev.16.21" parsed="|Lev|16|21|0|0" passage="Le 16:21">Lev. xvi.
21</scripRef>. In their idolatries they were sometimes guilty of
whoredom (as in the worship of Peor), sometimes of murder (as in
the worship of Moloch); these were <i>evils committed in their
abominations.</i> Or it denotes the great malignity there is in
sin; it is an abomination that has abundance of evil in it. (3.)
Those that truly loathe sin cannot but loathe themselves because of
sin; self-loathing is evermore the companion of true repentance.
Penitents quarrel with themselves, and can never be reconciled to
themselves till they have some ground to hope that God is
reconciled to them; nay, <i>then</i> they shall lie down in their
shame, when he is pacified towards them, <scripRef id="Ez.vii-p13.5" osisRef="Bible:Ezek.16.63" parsed="|Ezek|16|63|0|0" passage="Eze 16:63"><i>ch.</i> xvi. 63</scripRef>.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ez.vii-p14" shownumber="no">4. The glory that will redound to God by
their repentance (<scripRef id="Ez.vii-p14.1" osisRef="Bible:Ezek.6.10" parsed="|Ezek|6|10|0|0" passage="Eze 6:10"><i>v.</i>
10</scripRef>): "<i>They shall know that I am the Lord;</i> they
shall be convinced of it by experience, and shall be ready to own
it, <i>and that I have not said in vain that I would do this evil
unto them,</i> finding that what I have said is made good, and made
to work for good, and to answer a good intention, and that it was
not without just provocation that they were thus threatened and
thus punished." Note, (1.) One way or other God will make sinners
to know and own that he is the Lord, either by their repentance or
by their ruin. (2.) All true penitents are brought to acknowledge
both the equity and the efficacy of the word of God, particularly
the threatenings of the word, and to justify God in them and in the
accomplishment of them.</p>
</div><scripCom id="Ez.vii-p14.2" osisRef="Bible:Ezek.6.11-Ezek.6.14" parsed="|Ezek|6|11|6|14" passage="Eze 6:11-14" type="Commentary"/><div class="Commentary" id="Ez.vii-p14.3">
<h4 id="Ez.vii-p14.4">The Prophet's Lamentation. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Ez.vii-p14.5">b. c.</span> 594.)</h4>
<p class="passage" id="Ez.vii-p15" shownumber="no">11 Thus saith the Lord <span class="smallcaps" id="Ez.vii-p15.1">God</span>; Smite with thine hand, and stamp with thy
foot, and say, Alas for all the evil abominations of the house of
Israel! for they shall fall by the sword, by the famine, and by the
pestilence.   12 He that is far off shall die of the
pestilence; and he that is near shall fall by the sword; and he
that remaineth and is besieged shall die by the famine: thus will I
accomplish my fury upon them.   13 Then shall ye know that I
<i>am</i> the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ez.vii-p15.2">Lord</span>, when their slain
<i>men</i> shall be among their idols round about their altars,
upon every high hill, in all the tops of the mountains, and under
every green tree, and under every thick oak, the place where they
did offer sweet savour to all their idols.   14 So will I
stretch out my hand upon them, and make the land desolate, yea,
more desolate than the wilderness toward Diblath, in all their
habitations: and they shall know that I <i>am</i> the <span class="smallcaps" id="Ez.vii-p15.3">Lord</span>.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ez.vii-p16" shownumber="no">The same threatenings which we had before
in the foregoing chapter, and in the former part of this, are here
repeated, with a direction to the prophet to lament them, that
those he prophesied to might be the more affected with the
foresight of them.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Ez.vii-p17" shownumber="no">I. He must by his gestures in preaching
express the deep sense he had both of the iniquities and of the
calamities of the house of Israel (<scripRef id="Ez.vii-p17.1" osisRef="Bible:Ezek.6.11" parsed="|Ezek|6|11|0|0" passage="Eze 6:11"><i>v.</i> 11</scripRef>): <i>Smite with thy hand and
stamp with thy foot.</i> Thus he must make it to appear that he was
in earnest in what he said to them, that he firmly believed it and
laid it to heart. Thus he must signify the just displeasure he had
conceived at their sins, and the just dread he was under of the
judgments coming upon them. Some would reject this use of these
gestures, and call them antic and ridiculous; but God bids him use
them because they might help to enforce the word upon some and give
it the setting on; and those that know the worth of souls will be
content to be laughed at by the wits, so they may but edify the
weak. Two things the prophet must thus lament:—1. National sins.
<i>Alas! for all the evil abominations of the house of Israel.</i>
Note, The sins of sinners are the sorrows of God's faithful
servants, especially the <i>evil abominations of the house of
Israel,</i> whose sins are more abominable and have more evil in
them than the sins of others. Alas! <i>What will be in the end
hereof?</i> 2. National judgments. To punish them for these
abominations <i>they shall fall by the sword, by the famine, and by
the pestilence.</i> Note, It is our duty to be affected not only
with our own sins and sufferings, but with the sins and sufferings
of others; and to look with compassion upon the miseries that
wicked people bring upon themselves; as Christ <i>beheld Jerusalem
and wept over it.</i></p>
<p class="indent" id="Ez.vii-p18" shownumber="no">II. He must inculcate what he had said
before concerning the destruction that was coming upon them. 1.
They shall be run down and ruined by a variety of judgments which
shall find them out and follow them wherever they are (<scripRef id="Ez.vii-p18.1" osisRef="Bible:Ezek.6.12" parsed="|Ezek|6|12|0|0" passage="Eze 6:12"><i>v.</i> 12</scripRef>): <i>He that is far
off,</i> and thinks himself out of danger, because out of the reach
of the Chaldeans' arrows, shall find himself not out of the reach
of God's arrows, which fly day and night (<scripRef id="Ez.vii-p18.2" osisRef="Bible:Ps.91.5" parsed="|Ps|91|5|0|0" passage="Ps 91:5">Ps. xci. 5</scripRef>): <i>He shall die of the
pestilence. He that is near</i> a place of strength, which he hopes
will be to him a place of safety, <i>shall fall by the sword,</i>
before he can retreat. <i>He that</i> is so cautious as not to
venture out, but <i>remains</i> in the city, <i>shall</i> there
<i>die by the famine,</i> the saddest death of all. <i>Thus
will</i> God <i>accomplish his fury,</i> that is, do all that
against them which he had purposed to do. 2. They shall read their
sin in their punishment; for <i>their slain men shall be among
their idols, round about their altars,</i> as was threatened
before, <scripRef id="Ez.vii-p18.3" osisRef="Bible:Ezek.6.5-Ezek.6.7" parsed="|Ezek|6|5|6|7" passage="Eze 6:5-7"><i>v.</i> 5-7</scripRef>.
There, where they had prostrated themselves in honour of their
idols, God will lay them dead, to their own reproach and the
reproach of their idols. They lived among them and shall die among
them. They had offered sweet odours to their idols, but there shall
their dead carcases send forth an offensive smell, as it were to
atone for that misplaced incense. 3. The country shall be all laid
waste, as, before, <i>the cities</i> (<scripRef id="Ez.vii-p18.4" osisRef="Bible:Ezek.6.6" parsed="|Ezek|6|6|0|0" passage="Eze 6:6"><i>v.</i> 6</scripRef>): <i>I will make the land
desolate.</i> That fruitful, pleasant, populous country, that has
been as the garden of the Lord, the glory of all lands, shall be
<i>desolate, more desolate than the wilderness towards Diblath,</i>
<scripRef id="Ez.vii-p18.5" osisRef="Bible:Ezek.6.14" parsed="|Ezek|6|14|0|0" passage="Eze 6:14"><i>v.</i> 14</scripRef>. It is called
Diblathaim (<scripRef id="Ez.vii-p18.6" osisRef="Bible:Num.33.46 Bible:Jer.48.22" parsed="|Num|33|46|0|0;|Jer|48|22|0|0" passage="Nu 33:46,Jer 48:22">Num. xxxiii. 46;
Jer. xlviii. 22</scripRef>), that <i>great and terrible
wilderness</i> which is described, <scripRef id="Ez.vii-p18.7" osisRef="Bible:Deut.8.15" parsed="|Deut|8|15|0|0" passage="De 8:15">Deut. viii. 15</scripRef>, wherein were <i>fiery serpents
and scorpions.</i> The land of Canaan is at this day one of the
most barren desolate countries in the world. City and country are
thus depopulated, <i>that the altars may be laid waste and made
desolate,</i> <scripRef id="Ez.vii-p18.8" osisRef="Bible:Ezek.6.6" parsed="|Ezek|6|6|0|0" passage="Eze 6:6"><i>v.</i> 6</scripRef>.
Rather than their idolatrous altars shall be left standing, both
town and country shall be laid in ruins. Sin is a desolating thing;
therefore <i>stand in awe and sin not.</i></p>
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