13 When I shall say H559 to the righteous, H6662 that he shall surely H2421 live; H2421 if he trust H982 to his own righteousness, H6666 and commit H6213 iniquity, H5766 all his righteousnesses H6666 shall not be remembered; H2142 but for his iniquity H5766 that he hath committed, H6213 he shall die H4191 for it.
But when the righteous H6662 turneth away H7725 from his righteousness, H6666 and committeth H6213 iniquity, H5766 and doeth H6213 according to all the abominations H8441 that the wicked H7563 man doeth, H6213 shall he live? H2425 All his righteousness H6666 that he hath done H6213 shall not be mentioned: H2142 in his trespass H4603 that he hath trespassed, H4604 and in his sin H2403 that he hath sinned, H2398 in them shall he die. H4191
Now G1161 the just G1342 shall live G2198 by G1537 faith: G4102 but G2532 if G1437 any man draw back, G5288 my G3450 soul G5590 shall have G2106 no G3756 pleasure G2106 in G1722 him. G846
Again, H7725 When a righteous H6662 man doth turn H7725 from his righteousness, H6664 and commit H6213 iniquity, H5766 and I lay H5414 a stumblingblock H4383 before H6440 him, he shall die: H4191 because thou hast not given him warning, H2094 he shall die H4191 in his sin, H2403 and his righteousness H6666 which he hath done H6213 shall not be remembered; H2142 but his blood H1818 will I require H1245 at thine hand. H3027
Behold, all souls H5315 are mine; as the soul H5315 of the father, H1 so also the soul H5315 of the son H1121 is mine: the soul H5315 that sinneth, H2398 it shall die. H4191
And G1161 he spake G2036 G2532 this G5026 parable G3850 unto G4314 certain G5100 which G3588 trusted G3982 in G1909 themselves G1438 that G3754 they were G1526 righteous, G1342 and G2532 despised G1848 others: G3062 Two G1417 men G444 went up G305 into G1519 the temple G2411 to pray; G4336 the one G1520 a Pharisee, G5330 and G2532 the other G2087 a publican. G5057 The Pharisee G5330 stood G2476 and prayed G4336 thus G5023 with G4314 himself, G1438 God, G2316 I thank G2168 thee, G4671 that G3754 I am G1510 not G3756 as G5618 other G3062 men G444 are, extortioners, G727 unjust, G94 adulterers, G3432 or G2228 even G2532 as G5613 this G3778 publican. G5057 I fast G3522 twice G1364 in the week, G4521 I give tithes G586 of all G3956 that G3745 I possess. G2932 And G2532 the publican, G5057 standing G2476 afar off, G3113 would G2309 not G3756 lift up G1869 so much as G3761 his eyes G3788 unto G1519 heaven, G3772 but G235 smote G5180 upon G1519 his G846 breast, G4738 saying, G3004 God G2316 be merciful G2433 to me G3427 a sinner. G268 I tell G3004 you, G5213 this man G3778 went down G2597 to G1519 his G846 house G3624 justified G1344 rather than G2228 the other: G1565 for G3754 every one G3956 that exalteth G5312 himself G1438 shall be abased; G5013 and G1161 he that humbleth G5013 himself G1438 shall be exalted. G5312
And G2532 be found G2147 in G1722 him, G846 not G3361 having G2192 mine own G1699 righteousness, G1343 which G3588 is of G1537 the law, G3551 but G235 that which G3588 is through G1223 the faith G4102 of Christ, G5547 the righteousness G1343 which G3588 is of G1537 God G2316 by G1909 faith: G4102
For G1063 if G1487 after they have escaped G668 the pollutions G3393 of the world G2889 through G1722 the knowledge G1922 of the Lord G2962 and G2532 Saviour G4990 Jesus G2424 Christ, G5547 they are G1707 again G3825 entangled G1707 therein, G5125 and G1161 overcome, G1096 G2274 the latter end G2078 is worse G5501 with them G846 than the beginning. G4413 For G1063 it had been G2258 better G2909 for them G846 not G3361 to have known G1921 the way G3598 of righteousness, G1343 than, G2228 after they have known G1921 it, to turn G1994 from G1537 the holy G40 commandment G1785 delivered G3860 unto them. G846 But G1161 it is happened G4819 unto them G846 according to G3588 the true G227 proverb, G3942 The dog G2965 is turned G1994 to G1909 his own G2398 vomit G1829 again; G1994 and G2532 the sow G5300 that was washed G3068 to G1519 her wallowing G2946 in the mire. G1004
They went out G1831 from G1537 us, G2257 but G235 they were G2258 not G3756 of G1537 us; G2257 for G1063 if G1487 they had been G2258 of G1537 us, G2257 they would G302 no doubt have continued G3306 with G3326 us: G2257 but G235 they went out, that G2443 they might be made manifest G5319 that G3754 they were G1526 not G3756 all G3956 of G1537 us. G2257
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible » Commentary on Ezekiel 33
Commentary on Ezekiel 33 Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
CHAPTER 33
Eze 33:1-33. Renewal of Ezekiel's Commission, Now that He Is Again to Address His Countrymen, and in a New Tone.
Heretofore his functions had been chiefly threatening; from this point, after the evil had got to its worst in the overthrow of Jerusalem, the consolatory element preponderates.
2. to the children of thy people—whom he had been forbidden to address from Eze 24:26, 27, till Jerusalem was overthrown, and the "escaped" came with tidings of the judgment being completed. So now, in Eze 33:21, the tidings of the fact having arrived, he opens his heretofore closed lips to the Jews. In the interval he had prophesied as to foreign nations. The former part of the chapter, at Eze 33:2-20, seems to have been imparted to Ezekiel on the evening previous (Eze 33:22), being a preparation for the latter part (Eze 33:23-33) imparted after the tidings had come. This accounts for the first part standing without intimation of the date, which was properly reserved for the latter part, to which the former was the anticipatory introduction [Fairbairn].
watchman—Eze 33:1-9 exhibit Ezekiel's office as a spiritual watchman; so in Eze 3:16-21; only here the duties of the earthly watchman (compare 2Sa 18:24, 25; 2Ki 9:17) are detailed first, and then the application is made to the spiritual watchman's duty (compare Isa 21:6-10; Ho 9:8; Hab 2:1). "A man of their coasts" is a man specially chosen for the office out of their whole number. So Jud 18:2, "five men from their coasts"; also the Hebrew of Ge 47:2; implying the care needed in the choice of the watchman, the spiritual as well as the temporal (Ac 1:21, 22, 24-26; 1Ti 5:22).
3. the sword—invaders. An appropriate illustration at the time of the invasion of Judea by Nebuchadnezzar.
4. blood … upon his own head—metaphor from sacrificial victims, on the heads of which they used to lay their hands, praying that their guilt should be upon the victims.
6. his iniquity—his negligence in not maintaining constant watchfulness, as they who are in warfare ought to do. The thing signified here appears from under the image.
7. I have set thee a watchman—application of the image. Ezekiel's appointment to be a watchman spiritually is far more solemn, as it is derived from God, not from the people.
8. thou shalt surely die—by a violent death, the earnest of everlasting death; the qualification being supposed, "if thou dost not repent."
9. Blood had by this time been shed (Eze 33:21), but Ezekiel was clear.
10. be upon us—that is, their guilt remain on us.
pine away in them—if we suffer the penalty threatened for them in Eze 24:23, according to the law (Le 26:39).
how should we … live?—as Thou dost promise in Eze 33:5 (compare Eze 37:11; Isa 49:14).
11. To meet the Jews' cry of despair in Eze 33:10, Ezekiel here cheers them by the assurance that God has no pleasure in their death, but that they should repent and live (2Pe 3:9). A yearning tenderness manifests itself here, notwithstanding all their past sins; yet with it a holiness that abates nothing of its demands for the honor of God's authority. God's righteousness is vindicated as in Eze 3:18-21 and Eze 18:1-32, by the statement that each should be treated with the closest adaptation of God's justice to his particular case.
12. not fall … in the day that he turneth—(2Ch 7:14; see Eze 3:20; 18:24).
15. give again that he had robbed—(Lu 19:8).
statutes of life—in the obeying of which life is promised (Le 18:5). If the law has failed to give life to man, it has not been the fault of the law, but of man's sinful inability to keep it (Ro 7:10, 12; Ga 3:21). It becomes life-giving through Christ's righteous obedience to it (2Co 3:6).
17. The way of the Lord—The Lord's way of dealing in His moral government.
21. twelfth year … tenth month—a year and a half after the capture of the city (Jer 39:2; 52:5, 6), in the eleventh year and fourth month. The one who escaped (as foretold, Eze 24:26) may have been so long on the road through fear of entering the enemy's country [Henderson]; or, the singular is used for the plural in a collective sense, "the escaped remnant." Compare similar phrases, "the escaped of Moab," Isa 15:9; "He that escapeth of them," Am 9:1. Naturally the reopening of the prophet's mouth for consolation would be deferred till the number of the escaped remnant was complete: the removal of such a large number would easily have occupied seventeen or eighteen months.
22. in the evening—(see on Eze 33:2). Thus the capture of Jerusalem was known to Ezekiel by revelation before the messenger came.
my mouth … no more dumb—that is, to my countrymen; as foretold (Eze 24:27), He spake (Eze 33:2-20) in the evening before the tidings came.
24. they that inhabit … wastes of … Israel—marking the blindness of the fraction of Jews under Gedaliah who, though dwelling amidst regions laid waste by the foe, still cherished hopes of deliverance, and this without repentance.
Abraham was one … but we are many—If God gave the land for an inheritance to Abraham, who was but one (Isa 51:2), much more it is given to us, who, though reduced, are still many. If he, with 318 servants, was able to defend himself amid so many foes, much more shall we, so much more numerous, retain our own. The grant of the land was not for his sole use, but for his numerous posterity.
inherited the land—not actually possessed it (Ac 7:5), but had the right of dwelling and pasturing his flocks in it [Grotius]. The Jews boasted similarly of their Abrahamic descent in Mt 3:9 and Joh 8:39.
25. eat with the blood—in opposition to the law (Le 19:26; compare Ge 9:4). They did so as an idolatrous rite.
26. Ye stand upon your sword—Your dependence is, not on right and equity, but on force and arms.
every one—Scarcely anyone refrains from adultery.
27. shall fall by the sword—The very object of their confidence would be the instrument of their destruction. Thinking to "stand" by it, by it they shall "fall." Just retribution! Some fell by the sword of Ishmael; others by the Chaldeans in revenge for the murder of Gedaliah (Jer 40:1-44:30).
caves—(Jud 6:2; 1Sa 13:6). In the hilly parts of Judea there were caves almost inaccessible, as having only crooked and extremely narrow paths of ascent, with rock in front stretching down into the valleys beneath perpendicularly [Josephus, Wars of the Jews, 1.16.4].
28. most desolate—(Jer 4:27; 12:11).
none … pass through—from fear of wild beasts and pestilence [Grotius].
30. Not only the remnant in Judea, but those at the Chebar, though less flagrantly, betrayed the same unbelieving spirit.
talking against thee—Though going to the prophet to hear the word of the Lord, they criticised, in an unfriendly spirit, his peculiarities of manner and his enigmatical style (Eze 20:49); making these the excuse for their impenitence. Their talking was not directly "against" Ezekiel, for they professed to like his ministrations; but God's word speaks of things as they really are, not as they appear.
by the walls—in the public haunts. In the East groups assemble under the walls of their houses in winter for conversation.
in the doors—privately.
what is the word—Their motive was curiosity, seeking pastime and gratification of the ear (2Ti 4:3); not reformation of the heart. Compare Johanan's consultation of Jeremiah, to hear the word of the Lord without desiring to do it (Jer 42:1-43:13).
31. as the people cometh—that is, in crowds, as disciples flock to their teacher.
sit before thee—on lower seats at thy feet, according to the Jewish custom of pupils (De 33:3; 2Ki 4:38; Lu 10:39; Ac 22:3).
as my people—though they are not.
hear … not do—(Mt 13:20, 21; Jas 1:23, 24).
they show much love—literally, "make love," that is, act the part of lovers. Profess love to the Lord (Mt 7:21). Gesenius translates, according to Arabic idiom, "They do the delights of God," that is, all that is agreeable to God. Vulgate translates, "They turn thy words into a song of their mouths."
heart goeth after … covetousness—the grand rival to the love of God; therefore called "idolatry," and therefore associated with impure carnal love, as both alike transfer the heart's affection from the Creator to the creature (Mt 13:22; Eph 5:5; 1Ti 6:10).
32. very lovely song—literally, a "song of loves": a lover's song. They praise thy eloquence, but care not for the subject of it as a real and personal thing; just as many do in the modern church [Jerome].
play well on an instrument—Hebrew singers accompanied the "voice" with the harp.
33. when this cometh to pass—when My predictions are verified.
lo, it will come—rather, "lo it is come" (see Eze 33:22).
know—experimentally, and to their cost.