Chapter Note Matthew Henry Commentary (Complete)
E Z E K I E L.
CHAP. XVIII.
Perhaps, in reading some of the foregoing chapters, we may have been tempted to think ourselves not much concerned in them (though they also were written for our learning); but this chapter, at first view, appears highly and nearly to concern us all, very highly, very nearly; for, without particular reference to Judah and Jerusalem, it lays down the rule of judgment according to which God will deal with the children of men in determining them to their everlasting state, and it agrees with that very ancient rule laid down, Genesis 4:7 , "If though doest well, shalt thou not be accepted?" But, "if not, sin," the punishment of sin,"lies at the door." Here is, I. The corrupt proverb used by the profane Jews, which gave occasion to the message here sent them, and made it necessary for the justifying of God in his dealings with them, Ezekiel 18:1 - 3 . II. The reply given to this proverb, in which God asserts in general his own sovereignty and justice, Ezekiel 18:4 . Woe to the wicked; it shall be ill with them, Ezekiel 18:4 ; Ezekiel 18:20 . But say to the righteous, It shall be ill with them, Ezekiel 18:4 ; Ezekiel 18:20 . But say to the righteous, It shall be well with them, Ezekiel 18:5 - 9 . In particular, as to the case complained of, he assures us, 1. That it shall be ill with a wicked man, though he had a good father, Ezekiel 18:10 - 13 . 2. That it shall be well with a good man, though he had a wicked father, Ezekiel 18:14 - 18 . And therefore in this God is righteous, Ezekiel 18:19 ; Ezekiel 18:20 . 3. That it shall be well with penitents, though they began ever so ill, Ezekiel 18:21 - 23 ; Ezekiel 18:27 ; Ezekiel 18:28 . 4. That it shall be ill with apostates, though they began ever so well, Ezekiel 18:24 ; Ezekiel 18:26 . And the use of all this is, (1.) To justify God and clear the equity of all his proceedings, Ezekiel 18:25 ; Ezekiel 18:29 . (2.) To engage and encourage us to repent of our sins and turn to God, Ezekiel 18:30 - 32 . And these are things which belong to our everlasting peace. O that we may understand and regard them before they be hidden from our eyes!
Book Note Matthew Henry Commentary (Complete)
AN
EXPOSITION,
W I T H P R A C T I C A L O B S E R V A T I O N S,
OF THE BOOK OF THE PROPHET
E Z E K I E L.
W HEN we entered upon the writings of the prophets, which speak of the things that should be hereafter, we seemed to have the same call that St. John had Revelation 4:1 ), Come up hither; but, when we enter upon the prophecy of this book, it is as if the voice said, Come up higher; as we go forward in time (for Ezekiel prophesied in the captivity, as Jeremiah prophesied just before it), so we soar upward in discoveries yet more sublime of the divine glory. These waters of the sanctuary still grow deeper; so far are they from being fordable that in some places they are scarcely fathomable; yet, deep as they are, out of them flow streams which make glad the city of our God, the holy place of the tabernacles of the Most High. As to this prophecy now before us, we may enquire, I. Concerning the penman of it--it was Ezekiel; his name signifies, The strength of God, or one girt or strengthened of God. He girded up the loins of his mind to the service, and God put strength into him. Whom God calls to any service he will himself enable for it; if he give commission, he will give power to execute it. Ezekiel's name was answered when God said (and no doubt did as he said), I have made thy face strong against their faces. The learned Selden, in his book De Diis Syris, says that it was the opinion of some of the ancients that the prophet Ezekiel was the same with that Nazaratus Assyrius whom Pythagoras (as himself relates) had for his tutor for some time, and whose lectures he attended. It is agreed that they lived much about the same time; and we have reason to think that many of the Greek philosophers were acquainted with the sacred writings and borrowed some of the best of their notions from them. If we may give credit to the tradition of the Jews, he was put to death by the captives in Babylon, for his faithfulness and boldness in reproving them; it is stated that they dragged him upon the stones till his brains were dashed out. An Arabic historian says that he was put to death and was buried in the sepulchre of Shem the son of Noah. So Hottinger relates, Thesaur. Philol. lib. 2 cap. 1. II. Concerning the date of it--the place whence it is dated and the time when. The scene is laid in Babylon, when it was a house of bondage to the Israel of God; there the prophecies of this book were preached, there they were written, when the prophet himself, and the people to whom he prophesied, were captives there. Ezekiel and Daniel are the only writing prophets of the Old Testament who lived and prophesied any where but in the land of Israel, except we add Jonah, who was sent to Nineveh to prophesy. Ezekiel prophesied in the beginning of the captivity, Daniel in the latter end of it. It was an indication of God's good-will to them, and his gracious designs concerning them in their affliction, that he raised up prophets among them, both to convince them when, in the beginning of their troubles, they were secure and unhumbled, which was Ezekiel's business, and to comfort them when, in the latter end of their troubles, they were dejected and discouraged. If the Lord had been pleased to kill them, he would not have used such apt and proper means to cure them. III. Concerning the matter and scope of it. 1. There is much in it that is very mysterious, dark, and hard to be understood, especially in the beginning and the latter end of it, which therefore the Jewish rabbin forbade the reading of to their young men, till they came to be thirty years of age, lest by the difficulties they met with there they should be prejudiced against the scriptures; but if we read these difficult parts of scripture with humility and reverence, and search them diligently, though we may not be able to untie all the knots we meet with, any more than we can solve all the phenomena in the book of nature, yet we may from them, as from the book of nature, gather a great deal for the confirming of our faith and the encouraging of our hope in the God we worship. 2. Though the visions here be intricate, such as an elephant may swim in, yet the sermons are mostly plain, such as a lamb may wade in; and the chief design of them is to show God's people their transgressions, that in their captivity they might be repenting and not repining. It should seem the prophet was constantly attended (for we read of their sitting before him as God's people sat to hear his words,Ezekiel 33:31Ezekiel 33:31 ), and that he was occasionally consulted, for we read of the elders of Israel who came to enquire of the Lord by him, Ezekiel 14:1 ; Ezekiel 14:3 . And as it was of great use to the oppressed captives themselves to have a prophet with them, so it was a testimony to their holy religion against their oppressors who ridiculed it and them. 3. Though the reproofs and the threatenings here are very sharp and bold, yet towards the close of the book very comfortable assurances are given of great mercy God had in store for them; and there, at length, we shall meet with something that has reference to gospel times, and which was to have its accomplishment in the kingdom of the Messiah, of whom indeed this prophet speaks less than almost any of the prophets. But by opening the terrors of the Lord he prepares Christ's way. By the law is the knowledge of sin, and so it becomes our school-master to bring us to Christ. The visions which were the prophet's credentials we have Ezekiel 1:1 - 3Ezekiel 1:1 - 3 , the reproofs and threatenings Ezekiel 4:1 - 24Ezekiel 4:1 - 24 betwixt which and the comforts which we have in the latter part of the book we have messages sent to the nations that bordered upon the land of Israel, whose destruction is foretold Ezekiel 25:1 - 35Ezekiel 25:1 - 35 ), to make way for the restoration of God's Israel and the re-establishment of their city and temple, which are foretold Ezekiel 36:1 - 38Ezekiel 36:1 - 38 to the end. Those who would apply the comforts to themselves must apply the convictions to themselves.
