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<center><h1>Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary
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on the Whole Bible</h1>
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[<A HREF="MHC00000.HTM">Table of Contents</A>]<BR>
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Matthew Henry<BR><I>Commentary on the Whole Bible</I> (1712)
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<!-- (Begin Body) -->
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<CENTER>
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<BR><FONT SIZE=+3><B>E Z E K I E L.</B></FONT>
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<BR>
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<BR><FONT SIZE=+2>CHAP. VI.</FONT>
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<HR SIZE=1 WIDTH=50>
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</CENTER>
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<FONT SIZE=-1>
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<P>
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In this chapter we have,
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I. A threatening of the destruction of Israel for their idolatry, and
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the destruction of their idols with them,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Eze+6:1-7">ver. 1-7</A>.
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II. A promise of the gracious return of a remnant of them to God, by
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true repentance and reformation,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Eze+6:8-10">ver. 8-10</A>.
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III. Directions given to the prophet and others, the Lord's servants,
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to lament both the iniquities and the calamities of Israel,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Eze+6:11-14">
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ver. 11-14</A>.</P>
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</FONT>
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<A NAME="Eze6_1"> </A>
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<A NAME="Eze6_2"> </A>
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<A NAME="Eze6_3"> </A>
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<A NAME="Eze6_4"> </A>
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<A NAME="Eze6_5"> </A>
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<A NAME="Eze6_6"> </A>
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<A NAME="Eze6_7"> </A>
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<A NAME="Sec1"> </A>
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<TABLE WIDTH="100%" BORDER=0>
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<TR><TD><FONT SIZE=+1><I>The Destruction of Idolatry.</I></FONT></TD>
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<TD ALIGN=RIGHT><FONT SIZE=-1>B. C.</FONT> 594.</TD></TR>
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<TR><TD COLSPAN=2><HR SIZE=1></TD></TR>
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</TABLE>
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<P>
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<FONT SIZE=+1>1 And the word of the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT> came unto me, saying,
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2 Son of man, set thy face toward the mountains of Israel, and
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prophesy against them,
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3 And say, Ye mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Lord
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G<FONT SIZE=-1><B>OD</B></FONT>; Thus saith the Lord G<FONT SIZE=-1><B>OD</B></FONT> to the mountains, and to the hills,
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to the rivers, and to the valleys; Behold, I, <I>even</I> I, will
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bring a sword upon you, and I will destroy your high places.
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4 And your altars shall be desolate, and your images shall be
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broken: and I will cast down your slain <I>men</I> before your idols.
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5 And I will lay the dead carcases of the children of Israel
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before their idols; and I will scatter your bones round about
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your altars.
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6 In all your dwelling-places the cities shall be laid waste,
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and the high places shall be desolate; that your altars may be
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laid waste and made desolate, and your idols may be broken and
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cease, and your images may be cut down, and your works may be
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abolished.
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7 And the slain shall fall in the midst of you, and ye shall
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know that I <I>am</I> the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT>.
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</FONT></P>
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<P>
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Here,
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I. The prophecy is directed to <I>the mountains of Israel</I>
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Eze+6:1,2"><I>v.</I> 1, 2</A>);
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the prophet must <I>set his face towards</I> them. If he could see so
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far off as the land of Israel, <I>the mountains</I> of that land would
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be first and furthest seen; towards them therefore he must look, and
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look boldly and stedfastly, as the judge looks at the prisoner, and
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directs his speech to him, when he passes sentence upon him. Though
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<I>the mountains of Israel</I> be ever so high and ever so strong, he
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must <I>set his face against</I> them, as having judgments to denounce
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that should shake their foundation. <I>The mountains of Israel</I> had
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been <I>holy mountains,</I> but now that they had polluted them with
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their high places God set his face against them and therefore the
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prophet must. Israel is here put, not, as sometimes, for the ten
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tribes, but for the whole land. <I>The mountains</I> are called upon to
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<I>hear the word of the Lord,</I> to shame the inhabitants that would
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not hear. The prophets might as soon gain attention from the
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<I>mountains</I> as from that <I>rebellious and gainsaying people,</I>
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to whom they all day long <I>stretched out their hands in vain. Hear, O
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mountains! the Lord's controversy</I>
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Mic+6:1,2">Mic. vi. 1, 2</A>),
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for God's cause will have a hearing, whether we hear it or no. But from
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<I>the mountains the word of the Lord</I> echoes <I>to the hills, to
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the rivers, and to the valleys;</I> for to them also <I>the Lord
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God</I> speaks, intimating that the whole land is concerned in what is
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now to be delivered and shall be witnesses against this people that
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they had fair warning given them of the judgments coming, but they
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would not take it; nay, they contradicted the message and persecuted
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the messengers, so that God's prophets might more safely and
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comfortably speak to <I>the hills and mountains</I> than to them.</P>
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<P>
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II. That which is threatened in this prophecy is the utter destruction
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of the idols and the idolaters, and both by the sword of war. God
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himself is commander-in-chief of this expedition against <I>the
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mountains of Israel.</I> It is he that says, <I>Behold, I, even I, will
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bring a sword upon you</I>
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Eze+6:3"><I>v.</I> 3</A>);
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the sword of the Chaldeans is at God's command, goes where he sends it,
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comes where he brings it, and lights as he directs it. In the
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desolations of that war,</P>
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<P>
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1. The idols and all their appurtenances should be destroyed. The
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<I>high places,</I> which were on the tops of mountains
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Eze+6:3"><I>v.</I> 3</A>),
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shall be levelled <I>and made desolate</I>
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Eze+6:6"><I>v.</I> 6</A>);
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they shall not be beautified, shall not be frequented as they had been.
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The <I>altars,</I> on which they offered sacrifice and burnt incense to
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strange gods, <I>shall be broken</I> to pieces and <I>laid waste;</I>
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the <I>images</I> and <I>idols</I> shall be defaced, <I>shall be broken
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and cease,</I> and be cut down, and all the fine costly works about
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them shall be abolished,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Eze+6:4,6"><I>v.</I> 4, 6</A>.
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Observe here,
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(1.) That war makes woeful desolations, which those persons, places,
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and things that were esteemed most sacred cannot escape; for <I>the
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sword devours one as well as another.</I>
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(2.) That God sometimes ruins idolatries even by the hands of
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idolaters, for such the Chaldeans themselves were; but, as if the deity
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were a local thing, the greatest admirers of the gods of their own
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country were the greatest despisers of the gods of other countries.
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(3.) It is just with God to make that a desolation which we make an
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idol of; for he is a jealous God and will not bear a rival.
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(4.) If men do not, as they ought, destroy idolatry, God will, first or
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last, find out a way to do it. When Josiah had destroyed the high
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places, altars, and images, with the sword of justice, they set them up
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again; but God will now destroy them with the sword of war, and let us
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see who dares re-establish them.</P>
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<P>
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2. The worshippers of idols and all their adherents should be destroyed
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likewise. As <I>all their high places shall be laid waste,</I> so shall
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all <I>their dwelling-places</I> too, even <I>all their cities,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Eze+6:6"><I>v.</I> 6</A>.
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Those that profane God's dwelling-place as they had done can expect no
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other than that he should abandon theirs,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Eze+5:11"><I>ch.</I> v. 11</A>.
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<I>If any man defile the temple of God, him will God destroy,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=1Co+3:17">1 Cor. iii. 17</A>.
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It is here threatened that <I>their slain shall fall in the midst of
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them</I>
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Eze+6:7"><I>v.</I> 7</A>);
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there shall be abundance slain, even in those places which were thought
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most safe; but it is added as a remarkable circumstance that they shall
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fall <I>before their idols</I>
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Eze+6:4"><I>v.</I> 4</A>),
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that their <I>dead carcases</I> should be <I>laid,</I> and their
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<I>bones scattered, about their altars,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Eze+6:5"><I>v.</I> 5</A>.
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(1.) Thus their idols should be polluted, and those places profaned by
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the dead bodies which they had had in veneration. If they will not
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<I>defile the covering of their graven images,</I> God will,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+30:22">Isa. xxx. 22</A>.
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The throwing of the carcases among them, as upon the dunghill,
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intimates that they were but dunghill-deities.
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(2.) Thus it was intimated that they were but dead things, unfit to be
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rivals with <I>the living God;</I> for the carcases of dead men, that,
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like them, <I>have eyes and see not, ears and hear not,</I> were the
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fittest company for them.
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(3.) Thus the idols were upbraided with their inability to help their
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worshippers, and idolaters were upbraided with the folly of trusting in
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them; for, it should seem, they fell by the sword of the enemy when
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they were actually before their idols imploring their aid and putting
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themselves under their protection. Sennacherib was slain by his sons
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when he was <I>worshipping in the house of his god.</I>
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(4.) The sin might be read in this circumstance of the punishment; the
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<I>slain men</I> are <I>cast before the idols,</I> to show that
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<I>therefore</I> they are slain, because they worshipped those idols;
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see
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+8:1,2">Jer. viii. 1, 2</A>.
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Let the survivors observe it, and take warning not to
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worship images; let them see it, and know that <I>God is the Lord,</I>
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that <I>the Lord he is God</I> and he alone.</P>
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<A NAME="Eze6_8"> </A>
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<A NAME="Eze6_9"> </A>
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<A NAME="Eze6_10"> </A>
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<A NAME="Sec2"> </A>
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<TABLE WIDTH="100%" BORDER=0>
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<TR><TD><FONT SIZE=+1><I>Mercy Promised to the Penitent; Effect of Repentance.</I></FONT></TD>
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<TD ALIGN=RIGHT><FONT SIZE=-1>B. C.</FONT> 594.</TD></TR>
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<TR><TD COLSPAN=2><HR SIZE=1></TD></TR>
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</TABLE>
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<P>
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<FONT SIZE=+1>8 Yet will I leave a remnant, that ye may have <I>some</I> that
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shall escape the sword among the nations, when ye shall be
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scattered through the countries.
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9 And they that escape of you shall remember me among the
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nations whither they shall be carried captives, because I am
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broken with their whorish heart, which hath departed from me, and
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with their eyes, which go a whoring after their idols: and they
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shall loathe themselves for the evils which they have committed in
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all their abominations.
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10 And they shall know that I <I>am</I> the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT>, <I>and that</I> I have
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not said in vain that I would do this evil unto them.
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</FONT></P>
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<P>
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Judgment had hitherto triumphed, but in these verses mercy rejoices
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against judgment. A sad end is made of this provoking people, but not a
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full end. The ruin seems to be universal, and <I>yet will I leave a
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remnant,</I> a little remnant, distinguished from the body of the
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people, a few of many, such as are left when the rest perish; and it is
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God that leaves them. This intimates that they deserved to be cut off
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with the rest, and would have been cut off if God had not left them.
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See
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+1:9">Isa. i. 9</A>.
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And it is God who by his grace works that in them which he has an eye
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to in sparing them. Now,</P>
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<P>
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I. It is a preserved remnant, saved from the ruin which the body of the
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nation is involved in
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Eze+6:8"><I>v.</I> 8</A>):
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<I>That you may have some who shall escape the sword.</I> God said
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Eze+5:12"><I>ch.</I> v. 12</A>)
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that he would <I>draw a sword after those</I> who were
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<I>scattered,</I> that destruction should pursue them in their
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dispersion; but here is <I>mercy remembered in the midst of</I> that
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<I>wrath,</I> and a promise that some of <I>the Jews of the
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dispersion,</I> as they were afterwards called, should <I>escape the
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sword.</I> None of those who were to <I>fall by the sword about</I>
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Jerusalem <I>shall escape;</I> for they trust to Jerusalem's walls for
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security, and shall be made ashamed of that vain confidence. But some
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of them <I>shall escape the sword among the nations,</I> where, being
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deprived of all other stays, they stay themselves upon God only. They
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are said to <I>have</I> those who shall <I>escape;</I> for they shall
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be the seed of another generation, out of which Jerusalem shall
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flourish again.</P>
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<P>
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II. It is a penitent remnant
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Eze+6:9"><I>v.</I> 9</A>):
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<I>Those who escape of you shall remember me.</I> Note, To those whom
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god designs for life he will give <I>repentance unto life.</I> They are
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reprieved, and <I>escape the sword,</I> that they may have time to
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return to God. Note, God's patience both leaves room for repentance and
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is an encouragement to sinners to repent. Where God designs grace to
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repent he allows space to repent; yet many who have the space want the
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grace, many who <I>escape the sword</I> do not forsake the sin, as it
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is promised that these shall do. This remnant, here marked for
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salvation, is a type of the remnant reserved out of the body of mankind
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to be monuments of mercy, who are made safe in the same way that these
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were, by being brought to repentance. Now observe here,</P>
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<P>
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1. The occasion of their repentance, and that is a mixture of judgment
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and mercy-judgment, that they were <I>carried captives,</I> but mercy,
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that they <I>escaped the sword</I> in the land of their captivity. They
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were driven out of their own land, but not out of the land of the
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living, <I>not chased out of the world,</I> as other were and they
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deserved to be. Note, The consideration of the just rebukes of
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Providence we are under, and yet of the mercy mixed with them, should
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engage us to repent, that we may answer God's end in both. And true
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repentance shall be accepted of God, though we are brought to it by our
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troubles; nay, sanctified afflictions often prove means of conversion,
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as to Manasseh.</P>
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<P>
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2. The root and principle of their repentance: <I>They shall remember
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me among the nations.</I> Those who <I>forgot God</I> in the land of
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their peace and prosperity, who <I>waxed fat and kicked,</I> were
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brought to remember him in the land of their captivity. The prodigal
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son never bethought himself of his father's house till he was ready to
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perish for hunger in the far country. Their remembering God was the
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first step they took in returning to him. Note, Then there begins to be
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some hopes of sinners when they have sinned against, and to enquire,
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<I>Where is God my Maker?</I> Sin takes rise in forgetting God,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+3:21">Jer. iii. 21</A>.
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Repentance takes rise from the remembrance of him and of our
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obligations to him. God says, <I>They shall remember me,</I> that is,
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"I will give them grace to do so;" for otherwise they would for ever
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forget him. That grace shall find them out wherever they are, and by
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bringing God to their mind shall bring them to their right mind. The
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prodigal, when he remembered his father, remembered how he has
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<I>sinned against Heaven and before</I> him; so do these penitents.
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(1.) They remember the base affront they had put upon God by their
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idolatries, and this is that which an ingenuous repentance fastens upon
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and most sadly laments. They had departed from God to idols, and given
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that honour to pretended deities, the creatures of men's fancies and
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the work of men's hands, which they should have given to the God of
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Israel. They <I>departed from</I> God, from his word, which they should
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have made their rule, from his work, which they should have made their
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business. <I>Their hearts departed from</I> him. The heart, which he
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requires and insists upon, and without which <I>bodily exercise profits
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nothing,</I> the <I>heart,</I> which should be set upon him, and
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carried out towards him, when that <I>departs from</I> him, is as the
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treacherous elopement of a wife from her husband or the rebellious
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revolt of a subject from his sovereign. <I>Their eyes</I> also <I>go
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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,
|
|
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(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
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|
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>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+95:10">Ps. xcv. 10</A>.
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<I>God's measures were broken</I> (so some); a stop was put to the
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|
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>
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|
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|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Zec+12:10">Zech. xii. 10</A>.
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Note, Nothing grieves a true penitent so much as to think that his sin
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has been a grief to God and to the Spirit of his grace.</P>
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<P>
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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
|
|
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|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+57:17,18,Ho+2:13,14">Isa. lvii. 17, 18; Hos. ii. 13, 14</A>.
|
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|
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,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+44:4,Isa+1:11">Jer. xliv. 4; Isa. i. 11</A>.
|
|
|
|
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>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+44:19">Isa. xliv. 19</A>.
|
|
|
|
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,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Le+16:21">Lev. xvi. 21</A>.
|
|
|
|
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,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Eze+16:63"><I>ch.</I> xvi. 63</A>.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
4. The glory that will redound to God by their repentance
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Eze+6:10"><I>v.</I> 10</A>):
|
|
|
|
"<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>
|
|
|
|
<A NAME="Eze6_11"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Eze6_12"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Eze6_13"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Eze6_14"> </A>
|
|
|
|
<A NAME="Sec3"> </A>
|
|
<TABLE WIDTH="100%" BORDER=0>
|
|
<TR><TD><FONT SIZE=+1><I>The Prophet's Lamentation.</I></FONT></TD>
|
|
<TD ALIGN=RIGHT><FONT SIZE=-1>B. C.</FONT> 594.</TD></TR>
|
|
<TR><TD COLSPAN=2><HR SIZE=1></TD></TR>
|
|
</TABLE>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
<FONT SIZE=+1>11 Thus saith the Lord G<FONT SIZE=-1><B>OD</B></FONT>; 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 L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT>, 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
|
|
L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT>.
|
|
</FONT></P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
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>
|
|
|
|
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
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Eze+6:11"><I>v.</I> 11</A>):
|
|
|
|
<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>
|
|
|
|
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
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Eze+6:12"><I>v.</I> 12</A>):
|
|
|
|
<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
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+91:5">Ps. xci. 5</A>):
|
|
|
|
<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,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Eze+6:5-7"><I>v.</I> 5-7</A>.
|
|
|
|
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>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Eze+6:6"><I>v.</I> 6</A>):
|
|
|
|
<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>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Eze+6:14"><I>v.</I> 14</A>.
|
|
|
|
It is called Diblathaim
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Nu+33:46,Jer+48:22">Num. xxxiii. 46; Jer. xlviii. 22</A>),
|
|
|
|
that <I>great and terrible wilderness</I> which is described,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=De+8:15">Deut. viii. 15</A>,
|
|
|
|
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>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Eze+6:6"><I>v.</I> 6</A>.
|
|
|
|
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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