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Texts -- Ezekiel 14:6-23 (NET)

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14:6 “Therefore say to the house of Israel , ‘This is what the sovereign Lord says : Return ! Turn from your idols , and turn your faces away from your abominations . 14:7 For when anyone from the house of Israel , or the foreigner who lives in Israel , separates himself from me and erects his idols in his heart and sets the obstacle leading to his iniquity before his face , and then consults a prophet to seek something from me, I the Lord am determined to answer him personally. 14:8 I will set my face against that person and will make him an object lesson and a byword and will cut him off from among my people . Then you will know that I am the Lord . 14:9 “‘As for the prophet , if he is made a fool by being deceived into speaking a prophetic word – I , the Lord , have made a fool of that prophet , and I will stretch out my hand against him and destroy him from among my people Israel . 14:10 They will bear their punishment ; the punishment of the one who sought an oracle will be the same as the punishment of the prophet who gave it 14:11 so that the house of Israel will no longer go astray from me, nor continue to defile themselves by all their sins . They will be my people and I will be their God , declares the sovereign Lord .’” 14:12 The word of the Lord came to me: 14:13 “Son of man , suppose a country sins against me by being unfaithful , and I stretch out my hand against it, cut off its bread supply , cause famine to come on it, and kill both people and animals . 14:14 Even if these three men , Noah , Daniel , and Job , were in it , they would save only their own lives by their righteousness , declares the sovereign Lord . 14:15 “Suppose I were to send wild animals through the land and kill its children , leaving it desolate , without travelers due to the wild animals . 14:16 Even if these three men were in it , as surely as I live , declares the sovereign Lord , they could not save their own sons or daughters ; they would save only their own lives, and the land would become desolate . 14:17 “Or suppose I were to bring a sword against that land and say , ‘Let a sword pass through the land ,’ and I were to kill both people and animals . 14:18 Even if these three men were in it , as surely as I live , declares the sovereign Lord , they could not save their own sons or daughters – they would save only their own lives. 14:19 “Or suppose I were to send a plague into that land , and pour out my rage on it with bloodshed , killing both people and animals . 14:20 Even if Noah , Daniel , and Job were in it , as surely as I live , declares the sovereign Lord , they could not save their own son or daughter ; they would save only their own lives by their righteousness . 14:21 “For this is what the sovereign Lord says : How much worse will it be when I send my four terrible judgments – sword , famine , wild animals , and plague – to Jerusalem to kill both people and animals ! 14:22 Yet some survivors will be left in it, sons and daughters who will be brought out . They will come out to you, and when you see their behavior and their deeds , you will be consoled about the catastrophe I have brought on Jerusalem – for everything I brought on it. 14:23 They will console you when you see their behavior and their deeds , because you will know that it was not without reason that I have done everything which I have done in it, declares the sovereign Lord .”

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Expository Notes on the Bible (Constable)

  • Ezekiel ministered to the Jews in exile. He probably wrote this book for the benefit of the exiles and the other Jewish communities of his day and beyond his day. In some of his visions (e.g. chs. 8 and 11) the Lord carried t...
  • There are two major structural peculiarities that set Ezekiel off as distinctive.First, the book is a collection of prophecies arranged in almost consistent chronological order. No other prophetical book is as consistently ch...
  • Ezekiel began prophesying when he was 30 years old, and he had gone into captivity five years before that. Thus Ezekiel was familiar with Jeremiah's preaching and ministry. Ezekiel shows quite a bit of similarity to Jeremiah ...
  • I. Ezekiel's calling and commission chs. 1-3A. The vision of God's glory ch. 11. The setting of the vision 1:1-32. The vision proper 1:4-28B. The Lord's charge to Ezekiel chs. 2-31. The recipients of Ezekiel's ministry 2:1-52...
  • This pericope contains 10 commands, and it is the center of the chiasm in chapters 1-3."The Lord's charge to Ezekiel emphasized the absolute necessity of hearing, understanding, and assimilating God's message prior to going f...
  • "The exiles had not grasped the serious consequences of Ezekiel's warnings. They still hoped for an early return to Palestine, for they viewed the continued preservation of Jerusalem and Judah as signs of security. After all,...
  • 14:1-2 Some of the elders of the Jewish community in exile came to visit Ezekiel. While these men sat with the prophet, a word from the Lord came to him.14:3 The Lord revealed to His servant that these elders (along with the ...
  • 14:6 The Lord called His people to change their minds (repent, Heb. shub), turn away from the idols in their hearts, and abandon them.14:7-8 Anyone in Israel, including immigrants (Heb. ger, sojourners, resident aliens), who ...
  • This prophecy continues the emphasis on judgment from the previous one and stresses the irrevocability of Jerusalem's destruction (cf. Jer. 7:16; 15:1-4).14:12-14 The Lord spoke to Ezekiel again. He revealed that Jerusalem's ...
  • 18:1-2 The Lord told Ezekiel to ask the people what they meant when they used a proverb that implied that the present generation of Israelites was suffering because of the sins of their forefathers (cf. Jer. 31:29). They were...
  • This prophecy shows that there were no more rulers left in Judah who could restore the nation to its former glory. Evidently the exiles hoped that some Davidic descendant would prove successful in overcoming the Babylonians a...
  • 20:1 Certain elders of the Jewish exiles came to Ezekiel to inquire of the Lord (cf. 14:1-11). Inquiring of the Lord meant securing a divine revelation concerning a particular event (cf. 1 Kings 14:5-18; 22:7-28; 2 Kings 8:8-...
  • "Often the prophets are inspired to compose attacks on the leadership of Israelite society. The reason for this phenomenon is clear enough: the nation could never have become sufficiently corrupt to merit the outpouring of Go...
  • It is appropriate that this section appears at this point in Ezekiel, between the messages announcing judgment on Judah and Jerusalem for sin (chs. 4-24) and the messages announcing future blessings for Israel (chs. 33-48). I...
  • 28:20-21 Another oracle concerning Sidon, Tyre's neighbor about 20 miles to the north, came to the prophet from the Lord. God may have condemned Sidon because of its close association with Tyre, though it was responsible for ...
  • "This last major division of the book focuses on the restoration of Israel's blessing. Israel would be judged for her sin (chaps. 1-24) as would the surrounding nations (chaps. 25-32). But Israel will not remain under judgmen...
  • Since this message is undated, it may have come to Ezekiel about the same time as the previous two in chapter 32, namely, in the last month of 585 B.C. If so, Ezekiel received it about two months after God gave him the six me...
  • This part of Ezekiel's message of warning to the exiles is similar to 3:16-21. Yahweh recommissioned Ezekiel to his prophetic task (cf. chs. 2-3)."Now that Ezekiel's original ministry of judgment was completed, God appointed ...
  • Previously the Lord had said that the Israelites would not occupy the Promised Land because they had disobeyed the Mosaic Covenant. This disobedience was clear from the behavior of the people still in the land (33:25-26) and ...
  • The Book of Ezekiel begins with a vision of God's glory (ch. 1), records the departure of God's glory (chs. 8-11), and ends with another vision of God's glory (chs. 40-48). This is the longest vision outside the Book of Revel...
  • The Lord next gave Ezekiel directions for the division of some of the Promised Land in the future. Revelation about apportioning the rest of the land follows later (47:13-48:35). These descriptions do not coincide with any di...
  • Ackroyd, Peter R. Exile and Restoration. Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1968.Alexander, Ralph H. Ezekiel. Everyman's Bible Commentary series. Chicago: Moody Press, 1976._____. "Ezekiel."In Isaiah-Ezekiel. Vol. 6 of The Expo...
  • The dating of this book is one of the most controversial subjects in the field of Old Testament Introduction. The controversy is not due to the obscurity of evidence but to the presuppositions of critics.It is quite easy to d...
  • 1:2-3 Joel called on everyone, from the most respected ruling elders of the land (cf. 1 Sam. 30:26-31; 2 Sam. 19:11-15; 2 Kings 23:1; Ezra 10:8; Prov. 31:23; Jer. 26:17; Lam. 5:12, 14) to the ordinary inhabitants, to pay atte...
  • 13:1 In that day God would open a fountain for the complete spiritual cleansing of the Israelites, both for their moral sins and for their ritual uncleanness (cf. Ezek. 47). The figure of a fountain pictures abundant cleansin...
  • Jesus' temptation by Satan was another event that prepared the divine Servant for His ministry. Mark's account is brief, and it stresses the great spiritual conflict that this temptation posed for Jesus. The writer omitted an...
  • 21:10-11 Luke's interruption of Jesus' teaching suggests a break of some kind in His thought. It seems clear from what follows, in verse 11 especially, that Jesus now broadened His perspective from the wars that would precede...
  • 6:7 The Lamb broke the fourth seal, and the fourth living creature called the fourth horseman out.6:8 John next saw an ashen (lit. pale green) horse the color of a human corpse. Presumably Antichrist, the cause of this death,...
  • What happened next evidently took place in heaven.6:9 The altar John saw was evidently in heaven (cf. 8:3, 5; 14:18). Earlier John had seen a throneroom in heaven (chs. 4-5), but now he saw a temple. Probably the concepts of ...
  • 11:1 "And"(Gr. kai) ties this chapter closely to the previous one. John's first prophetic assignment after receiving his fresh commission was to provide this information.Again John became an active participant in his vision (...
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