Ezekiel 14 commentary

EZEKIEL 14 COMMENTARY
EDITED BY GLENN PEASE
Idolaters Condemned
1 Some of the elders of Israel came to me and sat
down in front of me.
BARNES, "Elders of Israel - Some of the fellow-exiles of Ezekiel, among whom he
ministered.
CLARKE, "Then came certain of the elders of Israel unto me - These
probably came to tempt him, or get him to say something that would embroil him with
the government. They were bad men, as we shall see in the third verse.
GILL, "Then came certain, of the elders of Israel unto me,.... The Syriac version
adds, "to consult the Lord"; by the prophet. These, according to Kimchi, were the elders
of the captivity, the heads of the captives that were now in Babylon with Ezekiel: but
there are others that think they were some that came from Jerusalem to Babylon on
some business or another; and having heard much of the prophet, came to visit him, and
to hear his prophecies, and inquire of the Lord by him:
and sat before me; silent and pensive, as persons in anxiety and distress; or as hearers
of him, for sitting is a hearing gesture; they sat and heard with great attention, gravity,
and seriousness, with seeming affection and reverence; and all this was not in a visionary
way, but was a real fact; see Eze_33:31.
HENRY 1-2, "Here is, I. The address which some of the elders of Israel made to the
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prophet, as an oracle, to enquire of the Lord by him. They came, and sat before him,
Eze_14:1. It is probable that they were not of those who were now his fellow-captives,
and constantly attended his ministry (such as those we read of Eze_8:1), but some
occasional hearers, some of the grandees of Jerusalem who had come upon business to
Babylon, perhaps public business, on an embassy from the king, and in their way called
on the prophet, having heard much of him and being desirous to know if he had any
message from God, which might be some guide to them in their negotiation. By the
severe answer given them one would suspect they had a design to ensnare the prophet,
or to try if they could catch hold of any thing that might look like a contradiction to
Jeremiah's prophecies, and so they might have occasion to reproach them both.
However, they feigned themselves just men, complimented the prophet, and sat before
him gravely enough, as God's people used to sit. Note, It is no new thing for bad men to
be found employed in the external performances of religion.
JAMISON, "Eze_14:1-23. Hypocritical inquirers are answered according to their
hypocrisy. The calamities coming on the people; but a remnant is to escape.
elders — persons holding that dignity among the exiles at the Chebar. Grotius refers
this to Seraiah and those sent with him from Judea (Jer_51:59). The prophet’s reply,
first, reflecting on the character of the inquirers, and, secondly, foretelling the calamities
coming on Judea, may furnish an idea of the subject of their inquiry.
sat before me — not at once able to find a beginning of their speech; indicative of
anxiety and despondency.
K&D, "The Lord Gives No Answer to the Idolaters
Eze_14:1 narrates the occasion for this and the following words of God: There came to
me men of the elders of Israel, and sat down before me. These men were not deputies
from the Israelites in Palestine, as Grotius and others suppose, but elders of the exiles
among whom Ezekiel had been labouring. They came to visit the prophet (v. 3),
evidently with the intention of obtaining, through him, a word of God concerning the
future of Jerusalem, or the fate of the kingdom of Judah. But Hävernick is wrong in
supposing that we may infer, from either the first or second word of God in this chapter,
that they had addressed to the prophet a distinct inquiry of this nature, to which the
answer is given in vv. 12-23. For although their coming to the prophet showed that his
prophecies had made an impression upon them, it is not stated in v. 1 that they had
come to inquire of God, like the elders in Eze_20:1, and there is no allusion to any
definite questions in the words of God themselves. The first (Eze_14:2-11) simply
assumes that they have come with the intention of asking, and discloses the state of
heart which keeps them from coming to inquire; and the second (Eze_14:12-23) points
out the worthlessness of their false confidence in the righteousness of certain godly men.
CALVIN, “Here Ezekiel relates an event worthy of notice. For this was not a mere
vision, but a real transaction, since some of the elders of Israel came to him for the
sake of consultation. He says that he sat, as men who are perplexed and astonished
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by evils are accustomed to do, when they see no remedy. The gesture then which the
Prophet describes was a sign of anxiety and despair. A person wishing for an
answer is said to sit before another; but since it is probable that they disputed
among themselves about beginning, and did not immediately discover how they
should commence, hence they became anxious to consult the Prophet. Ezekiel,
indeed, might be touched and softened by pity when he saw them seeking God in
this way. For this was a sign of repentance when they turned to the true and faithful
servant of God. But since they had no sincerity, the Prophet is warned in time
against supposing them to come with cordiality. Hence God instructs his servant not
to give way with too much facility when he sees old men coming to be disciples. But
he shows their hypocrisy, because superstition still reigned in their hearts; nay, they
desired openly to violate God’s law, and they did not disguise this feeling whenever
occasion offered. First, he says they have set up idols in their hearts; by which words
he means that they were addicted to superstition, so that idols obtained a high rank
in their hearts; as Paul exhorts the faithful, that the peace of God which passes all
understanding may obtain the rule in their hearts (Philippians 4:7; Colossians 3:15);
so on the other hand the Prophet says that these men had given supreme sway to
idols. And again an implied comparison must be remarked between God and idols.
For God has erected the seat of his empire in our hearts: but when we set up idols,
we necessarily endeavor to overthrow God’s throne, and to reduce his power to
nothing. Hence the most heinous crime of sacrilege is here shown in those old men
who caused idols to rise above their hearts. For hence it follows that all their senses
were drowned in their superstitions.
He adds, they placed the stumblingblock of their iniquity before his face. By this
second clause he signifies their hardness and perverseness; as if he had said,
although the doctrine of the law was put before their eyes, yet they had no regard
for piety, and despised even God’s threats, as if he were not going to be their judge.
When, therefore, the sinner is not moved by any admonitions, and is more than
convicted of his impiety, and is compelled, whether he will or not, to suffer God’s
anger, and yet afterwards despises it, he is said to put the stumbling block of his
iniquity before his face. For many slide away by error and thoughtlessness, because
they do not think they can attempt anything against God. But here Ezekiel expresses
that there was a gross contempt of God in these old men, and even a professed
rebellion against him. Now he asks, Shall I by inquiring be inquired of by them?
Some translate, Shall I, when consulted or asked, answer them? But this comment
seems to me too remote from the mind of the Prophet; and it is probable that they
thought this to be the sense, because they could not understand what else the
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Prophet meant. But God shows that this was like a wonder, since these old men
dared to break forth, and to pretend to have some desire to inquire the truth. Hence
their impudence is shown here, because they did not hesitate to place themselves
before God’s servant, and to pretend a regard for piety when they had none. God
says, therefore, can it be done? For this question expresses the absurdity of the
thing, and that for the above mentioned purpose, that their wickedness may be the
more apparent in their daring to insult the face of God. For what else is it than
openly to reproach God when impure men approach him, and wish to become
partakers of his counsel? Meanwhile they show by their whole life that they are
most inveterate enemies of the whole heavenly doctrine. Afterwards it follows —
COFFMAN, "Verse 1
PROPHECIES AGAINST IDOLATROUS INQUIRERS
Keil divided this chapter into two parts. "God will not allow idolaters to inquire of
him (Ezekiel 14:1-13), and the righteousness of the godly will not avert the judgment
(Ezekiel 14:14-23)."[1]
Ezekiel 14:1-3
"Then came certain of the elders of Israel unto me. And the word of Jehovah came
unto me, saying, Son of man, these men have taken their idols into their heart, and
put the stumblingblock of their iniquity before their face: should I be inquired of at
all by them?"
"Certain of the elders ..." (Ezekiel 13:1) The prophecies here, although directed to
this group of elders actually concerned all of Israel. Their having taken their idols
into their heart was no slight violation but a fundamental crime against God.
"These men ..." (Ezekiel 14:3). According to Taylor, this expression, in context,
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"designates them as contemptible."[2]
"Should I be inquired of at all by them ..." (Ezekiel 14:3)? In the Hebrew language,
a question like this, "requires a negative answer";[3] and therefore the meaning
here is simply that men with idols in their hearts have no right whatever to seek any
information from God.
COKE, "Introduction
CHAP. XIV.
God answereth idolaters according to their own heart. They are exhorted to repent,
for fear of judgments by means of seduced prophets. God's irrevocable sentence of
famine, of noisome beasts, of the sword, and of pestilence. A penitent remnant shall
be reserved for example to others.
Before Christ 593.
Verse 1
Ezekiel 14:1. Then came certain of the elders— The prophet tells us neither the
names nor the intention of these elders of Israel, nor the time when they came to
him. But the manner wherein God speaks, gives us to understand, that they came
only to tempt him, as the Pharisees came to Christ, and with no design to profit by
what they heard, or to correct their faults. See Calmet.
ELLICOTT, "This chapter consists of two distinct but closely-connected
prophecies, the first of which (Ezekiel 14:1-11) was called out by the coming of the
elders to enquire of the prophet, and announces to them that God will not answer,
but will destroy idolatrous enquirers; while the second (Ezekiel 14:12-23) shows the
falsity of the hope that God will spare the land for the sake of the righteous that may
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be therein. Both of these are closely connected with the prophecies that have gone
before, and are doubtless placed in their chronological order, as uttered in the
second year of Ezekiel’s ministry, the sixth or seventh year of his captivity.
Verse 1
(1) Certain of the elders of Israel.—There is no distinction intended here between
the elders of Israel and the elders of Judah mentioned in , and therefore there is no
occasion to suppose a deputation sent to the prophet from Jerusalem. Israel is now
becoming the ordinary name of the existing nation, except where it is used with
some special mark of distinction. The object of their enquiry is not mentioned, nor is
it even expressly said that they made any enquiry; but the message to them implies
this, and from what is said to them we may probably gather what was uppermost in
their minds. Already told by the previous prophecies that God would not spare
Jerusalem for its own sake, and that His long forbearance hitherto was no warrant
for its continuance, they still evidently cherished the hope that, however sinful they
might be in themselves, their city would yet be delivered for the sake of the holy men
who lived therein. With such thoughts in their minds the elders came and sat before
the prophet, in whose fearless words they had already learned to have confidence,
and waited what he might have to say to them.
TRAPP, "Ezekiel 14:1 Then came certain of the elders of Israel unto me, and sat
before me.
Ver. 1. Then came certain of the elders unto me.] Rulers and chieftains of the
captives in Babylon, pretending to be far better than those elders at Jerusalem,
complained about in Ezekiel 8:11-12, but indeed no better; nay, so much the worse,
because they had lost the fruit of all their afflictions, and were as arrant hypocrites
as those veteratores old hands, the scribes and Pharisees, that came to John’s
baptism and to our Saviour’s sermons, with evil and exulcerate minds.
“ Non omnes sancti qui calcant limina Templi. ”
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A Doeg may set his foot as far within the sanctuary as a David.
And sat before me.] Demurely and, to see to, devoutly. But why could they not stand
to hear the Word of God for reverence sake? Balak did so, [Numbers 23:18] though
a king; and Eglon, though unwieldy; [ 3:20] and a better man than they both,
Constantine the Great, as Eusebius (a) records, and further tells us, that being
pressed, after long time of hearing, to sit down, with a stern countenance he
answered, It were a great sin in me not to hear with utmost attention when God is
speaking.
POOLE, "Verse 1
EZEKIEL CHAPTER 14
God reproveth those hypocrites, who came to inquire of him with idolatry in their
hearts, Ezekiel 14:1-5. They are exhorted to repent, for fear of his judgments,
Ezekiel 14:6-11. No intercession shall save the guilty land from God’s judgment of
famine, Ezekiel 14:12-14, noisome beasts, Ezekiel 14:15,16, the sword, Ezekiel
14:17,18, the pestilence, Ezekiel 14:19, or from the four judgments together, Ezekiel
14:20,21. A remnant shall be left for the instruction and consolation of others,
Ezekiel 14:22,23.
Then, Heb. And, that we need not inquire the precise time of this prophecy.
Certain of the elders; men of note, that were in office and power among the Jews,
called here elders, &c.
Of Israel; who were yet in Jerusalem; not the elders who were now, and had been
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some time, in Babylon.
Sat before me: see Ezekiel 8:1.
BI, "These men have set up their idols in their heart.
Heart idols
The Lord is now going to search the heart, to turn out the corners of the inmost
recesses of the mind, the idol and favourite sin. He will proceed to do a spiritual
work; He will lay aside His hammer with which He has broken the wall, and no
more will He tear and rend the garments which cover falsehood: He will enter the
heart, He will name the idols one by one which occupy that secret sanctuary; He will
name them, He will bring them forth to judgment, and He will conduct that most
penetrating of all criticism, the judgment of the thought and motive and purpose of
man. “Then came certain of the elders of Israel unto me,”--came to be looked
through, weighed, measured, and adjudged. No office can save men from Divine
criticism. How comforting is this thought, though terrible in some aspects! It were
well that our judges should be judged, else who can tell to what extremes of folly
they might go, hounded on by ambition, or stung to further issues by envy and
malice? The higher the office, the greater the responsibility; the larger the
privileges, the greater the sin if they are outraged; the more brilliant the genius, the
more infamous the mischief if that genius be perverted. The able man, the man of
faculty and education, can do more sin in one moment than a poor uneducated soul
can do in a lifetime. Elevation aggravates sin. The place of the disease indicates its
fatal character--“in their heart.” This is heart disease. Men almost whisper when
they indicate that some friend is suffering from disease of the heart; there is
hopelessness in the tone: great allowance should be made, they say, for a man who is
suffering from heart disease; be must not be startled, or excited, or suddenly
pounced upon; his wishes must be gratified, they must as far as possible even be
anticipated; and any little impatience he may show must be looked at charitably.
The talk is humane, the considerateness is full of affection, the conditions imposed
are suggested by reason. Is there not a higher disease of the heart? What is the
meaning of this disease of the heart, this idolatry in the inmost soul? When a moral
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disease is of the heart it means that the disease is liked, enjoyed; it is wine drunk
behind the door, it is a feast of fat things eaten in secrecy; every mouthful so sweet,
so good, so rich. When a disease is of the heart in a moral and spiritual sense it
means that it is consented to; it is voluntary, it is personal, it is desired; there would
be a sense of loss without it. Disease of this kind, too, is most difficult of eradication.
It is not in the skin, or it might be cut out; it is not in the limb, or it might be
amputated, and the knife might anticipate mortification: the evil is in the heart; no
knife can touch it, no persuasion can get at it; nothing can be done with it but one
thing--only a miracle of the Holy Ghost can overcome that difficulty and turn that
disease into health. “Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again.” Are
we chargeable with heart idolatry? We have no idols of a visible kind, it may be, yet
we may be the veriest pagans in our hearts. We say, How distressing that poor
human nature should fall down before stock and stone and worship it! and we,
inflated pagans, worship a golden calf, a tinsel crown, a sounding name, a crafty
policy. Are we chargeable with heart idolatry? Certainly we are. No man can escape
this accusation. It is subtle, far reaching, all but ineradicable. If we do not face such
difficulties our piety is a stucco that will peel off in the wet weather, and leave the
ghastly moral ugliness exposed to public scorn. Doubt may be an idol used to
diminish responsibility. Others, again, may have in the heart an idol called
Ignorance, kept there for the purpose of diminishing service: we will not go into the
dark places of the city, then we need not attend to the cries which are said to be
arising there from overborne and hopeless humanity; we will keep on the broad
thoroughfare, where the gaslight is plentiful; we shall see the surface and outer
shape of things, and then retire to rest, saying that, say what fanatics may, there is
really a good deal of solid happiness in the city. Have we not an idol in the heart we
call Orthodoxy, which We keep there in order to enlarge moral licence? Is there not
an intellectual orthodoxy and a spiritual heterodoxy often united in the same man?
“Therefore say unto the house of Israel, Thus Saith the Lord God: Repent.” When
did the Lord ever conclude a discourse without some evangelical tone in it? The
Bible is terrific in denunciation, awful beyond all other books in its denunciation of
sin and its threatening of perdition; yet through it, and through it again, and ruling
it, is a spirit of clemency and pity and mercy and hope, yea, across hell’s burning
mouth there lies the shadow of the Cross. (J. Parker, D. D.)
Mental idolatry
The father of modern philosophy and science has shown us that there are in the
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mind of man, as man, natural idols which act as impediments to his acquisition of
knowledge and his search after truth. Till these idols are overthrown and broken in
pieces and taken away it is simply useless for man to pursue knowledge. His efforts
will be neutralised and their results vitiated. Now, if this is so in the matter of
human science, it is none the less worthy of our regard in the matter of Divine truth
and of the knowledge of God. We cannot know God, whom to know is eternal life, as
long as these natural obstacles are not taken out of the way. We cannot serve Him
acceptably as long as, instead of being dethroned, they are still set up in our hearts.
What, then, is the practical bearing of this truth? First, there must be a single eye to
the knowledge of God. If we have not determined with ourselves that God, and the
knowledge of God, and the fear of God, is more to be desired, and if we personally
do not desire it more than wealth, or ease, or success, or the applause of men, or
position in life, or influence, or comfort, or anything else, then we may be never so
punctual in our religious duties, never so zealous for the outward honour of God,
never so eager for the triumph of particular principles, or a particular party, or a
particular cause, but for all that there is still enshrined in some inner recess, some
secret corner of our hearts, an idol which disputes with the Most High God the
possession and sovereignty of them. Again, not only must there be a clear and
undimmed perception of God as the one sole object of our services, but there must
also be a readiness to sacrifice anything in order to know and to serve Him. How
many there are in the present day, not, thank God, who cannot afford to be
religious--for that brings with it no slur in our times, but rather the reverse--but
how many there are who dare not follow Truth whithersoever she may lead, who
cannot afford to obey their own convictions, and therefore stifle them with the
excuses of propriety or usage or convenience. This is a hard thing, and it is so
because the claims of truth and the idol in the heart cannot both be acknowledged.
And there is no condition of life where this does not apply. It is hard for the man of
science, whose name has been identified with certain theories and principles, to
sacrifice his name and fair renown to the growing conviction of counter theories and
principles which will make the past a blank, or show it to have been a mistake. It is
hard for the religious partisan, whose life has been east in a particular mould, and
whose sympathies are linked to one form of opinion and practice, to yield to the
force of truth when it comes with the authority of conviction to the mind and
compels the acknowledgment of previous error and misunderstanding. But more
than this, it is hard not to approach the consideration of religious truth with a
distinct bias; but it is certain that the existence of any such bias must damage our
appreciation of the truth. Unless we can see all round a thing, we can have no true
apprehension of the thing. We may view it partially, but shall have no conception of
it as a whole. The idol in possession of the mind will prevent the entrance of the true
idea. But if this is true, and in proportion as it is, there are certain general principles
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to which it behoves us all to give heed when we come to the worship of God. First of
all, we must empty ourselves of ourselves. We must come as though our present
knowledge of God were as nothing, and as if God were still to be known and learnt.
The whole of what we have must be sacrificed for the sake of what we are to have
and to gain. As long as sin, in one of its innumerable forms, lurks in the heart or on
the conscience, the service of God will be a vain thing, because the pursuit of truth is
a lie. It is that practised dishonesty, it is that cherished lust, it is that pampered self-
love, it is that incurable indolence, it is that willingly defiled imagination, it is that
malice and envy which vitiates all your worship and renders all your religion a lie.
There is One who searches the heart, and who cleanses it because He searches it.
There is One whose blood cleanses us from all sin, if we are willing to walk in the
light, as He is in the light. It is in direct personal communion with this heart-
searcher, with this sin-bearer, but only so, that we become sinless. But if anything is
suffered to interfere with that direct personal intercourse and communion, no
matter what it is, even though it should be some sacred word or ordinance of His
own, that is an idol which interferes with our worship and service of Him, and
therefore an idol which must be broken down. (S. Leathes, D. D.)
Idolaters inquiring of God
I. What is meant by the setting up of idols?
1. It is oppressive to men in their natural state to think of the spiritual, omnipresent,
heart-searching God. Accordingly they have brought down their conception of God
to something that can be apprehended by sense. They have thus tried to satisfy the
religious instinct within them, while at the same time pleasing themselves. It is much
easier to have an object of worship that we can see, or touch, or taste. An idol, too, is
not so exacting as the incorruptible and sin-hating God. Being material, it cannot
require heart worship.
2. We are in no danger of worshipping idols of wood and stone. But the tendency of
human nature is always the same, and where there is not renewing grace there is
something creaturely that is idolised--it may be some place of power, or wealth, or
some sensual pleasure, or child, or creation of the mind.
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II. The inquiring. These Israelites did not mean by setting up their idols utterly to
east off Jehovah. They meant still to connect Him with their past history as their
national deity. And so we can understand their going to inquire of one of the Lord’s
prophets. There were cross-currents in their life. There was the idolatrous current
which led them to do what was forbidden by God, and yet there was the old current
which led them to inquire of God. We may find an analogy to this still.
1. There is this inquiring when we ask for light and help in prayer, while at the same
time we are determined to follow what pleases ourselves.
2. There is this inquiry when we search the Bible while yet we are resolved to see in
it only certain things.
III. The divine treatment.
1. Why it must be futile to inquire of God while bent on our own way.
2. How God shows the futility of inquiring of Him while we are bent on our own
way. “I the Lord will answer him.”
Idols in the heart
I. The principle laid down. As a magnet attracts out of rubbish only the bits of iron
for which it has an affinity, so the idol-idea in a man’s mind will make him fix on
whatever will minister to it, and neglect everything else. The very Word of God will
be but a mirror in which he sees reflected the thought which possesses his soul.
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II. The working of this principle.
1. The apostles, like the rest of the Jews, had a settled conviction that the Messiah
would be a great temporal Prince.
2. Another instance is found in those who seek a system of Church government in
the New Testament.
3. The controversy as to the ultimate doom of the unbelieving. Restorationist,
annihilist, and believer in endless torment--all appeal to same Word, and often to
same texts.
III. Practical use. Three common idols--
1. The thought that to repent of sin and turn to Jesus at last hour will be enough.
2. The thought that good works are not essential to salvation.
3. The thought that the new life of faith must be ushered in with some great and
overwhelming spasm of feeling. (J. Ogle.)
The idols in the heart a barrier to the truth
I. The idols that are in the heart and the stumbling blocks that are before the face,
are the sins with which God’s people are sometimes chargeable.
II. Men professing to inquire after God while their idols are in their hearts, and
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their stumbling blocks before their faces; or, the gross inconsistency of seeking to
mingle the service of God with the pursuit of sin.
1. Men may pray from the influence of custom.
2. From the promptings of conscience.
3. From the desire to stand, well with their fellow men.
4. From a yam desire to set themselves right with God.
III. God taking notice of the idols that are in men’s hearts, and the stumbling-blocks
that are before their faces, or the faithful warnings which God addresses to those
who follow sin while they profess to serve Him.
1. He intimates that He is perfectly acquainted with us.
2. He tells us that He cannot answer the requests of those who indulge in sin.
3. He shows us how unreasonable it is to expect that He will be inquired of by us.
(Evangelical Preacher.)
Heart disease the worst disease
Manton says, “What would we think of a man who complained of the toothache, or
of a cut finger, when all the while he was wounded at the heart? Would it not seem
very strange?” Yet men will lament anything sooner than the depravity of their
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hearts. Many will confess their wandering thoughts in prayer, but will not
acknowledge the estrangement of their hearts from God. They will be sorry for
having spoken angrily, but not for having a passionate heart. They will own to
Sabbath breaking, but never lament their want of love to Jesus, which is a heart
matter. The evil of their hearts seems nothing to them: their tongues, hands, feet, are
all that they notice. What! will they cry over a cut finger, and feel no fear when they
have a dagger thrust into their bowels? Oh, madness of sinners, that they trifle most
with that disease which is the most dangerous, and lies at the bottom of all other ills.
God’s great complaint of men is that they set up in their hearts idols which they
themselves think nothing of. Certain in our day are so far gone that they even deny
that the human heart is diseased. What then? It does but prove the intimate
connection between the heart and the eyes. A perverted heart soon creates a blinded
eye. Of course, a depraved heart does not see its own depravity. Oh that we could
lead men to think and feel aright about their hearts; but this is the last point to
which we can bring them! They beat about the bush, and mourn over any and every
evil except the source and fountain of it all. Lord, teach me to look within. May I
attend even more to myself than to my acts. Purge Thou the spring, that the stream
may no longer be defiled. I would begin where Thou dost begin, and beseech Thee to
give me a new heart. Thou sayest, “My son, give Me thine heart.” Lord, I do give it
to Thee, but at the same time I pray, “Lord, give me a new heart”; for without this
my heart is not worth Thy having. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
Idolatry in the heart
Travellers tell us that there is a tribe in Africa so given to superstition that they fill
their huts and hovels with so many idols that they do not even leave room for their
families. How many men there are who fill their hearts with the idols of sin, so that
there is no room for the Living God, or for any of His holy principles! (John Bate.)
WHEDON, "Verse 1
THE IDOLATROUS ELDERS INQUIRE IN VAIN OF JEHOVAH
CONCERNING THE FUTURE, Ezekiel 14:1-5.
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1. Then came certain of the elders of Israel — Ezekiel’s sermons have at last
aroused deep interest, and the chief men among the exiles, notwithstanding his
fearful arraignment of the most popular prophets, come to him to inquire of the
future. Ezekiel’s word to them is very different from the soft, smooth messages
which he has been condemning (chap. 13). He openly exposes the iniquity of their
hearts, and declares that Jehovah will have no speech with such as they (Ezekiel
14:3).
PETT, "Introduction
Chapter 14 Those In Captivity Share in the Condemnation of Those in Jerusalem.
Ezekiel was now to stress that those who had gone into exile shared the
condemnation of Jerusalem because of their evil ways. They were really no different
from those who were still in Jerusalem because they still engaged in idolatry and the
ways associated with it. And unless they turned from it they too would bear their
judgment.
Verses 1-3
‘Then certain of the elders of Israel came to me and sat before me, and the word of
Yahweh came to me saying, “Son of man, these men have taken their idols into their
heart, and put the stumblingblock of their iniquity before their face. Should I be
enquired of at all by them?” ’
The elders of the Israelites in captivity now came to Ezekiel. He had clearly made an
impression on them and they were seeking Yahweh’s words through him. But they
had not come as true believers, men firmly committed to the covenant with Yahweh,
but as those who sought Yahweh’s advice as One among others. They were
compromisers. They believed in Yahweh to a certain extent, but they served other
16

gods too, the gods of their captors. However, they were probably hoping to receive
some word of comfort and hope in their predicament. Yahweh was the specialist on
Jerusalem.
But God knew the truth about them. He knew their hearts. They were still involved
in similar idol worship to that which had called down God’s judgment on
Jerusalem, and their hearts were with them and not with Yahweh. Thus Yahweh
called them ‘these men’ in contempt.
‘The stumblingblock of their iniquity.’ Another way of speaking of idolatry. It either
referred to their idols which caused them to stumble and fall into iniquity (compare
Ezekiel 7:19 where it was their gold and silver; Ezekiel 14:4; Ezekiel 14:7 where it
was seemingly the idols themselves; Ezekiel 18:30 where it was their transgressions
which included idolatry), or to the fact that they had encouraged and participated in
idolatrous rites, thus leading the people astray, encouraging them in idolatry and
putting a stumblingblock before them, causing them also to stumble (compare
Ezekiel 44:12). It basically referred to what caused men to stumble. It is a phrase
unique to Ezekiel.
‘Should I be enquired of at all by them?’ They had no right to seek His face, for they
sought the face of idols. He would not hear those who simply treated Him as one of a
pantheon of gods. He would not listen to any but those who were totally true to Him
(compare Psalms 66:18; 1 Kings 18:21).
2 Then the word of the Lord came to me:
GILL, "And the word of the Lord came unto me,.... While the elders were sitting
17

before him, and whispered secretly and powerfully the following things in his ears:
K&D 2-5, "Eze_14:2-5
And the word of Jehovah came to me, saying, Eze_14:3. Son of man, these men have
let their idols rise up in their heart, and have set the stumbling-block to guilt before
their face: shall I allow myself to be inquired of by them? Eze_14:4. Therefore speak to
them, and say to them, Thus saith the Lord Jehovah, Every man of the house of Israel
who lifteth up his idols in his heart, and setteth the stumbling-block to his sin before his
face, and cometh to the prophet, to him do I, Jehovah, show myself, answering
according thereto, according to the multitude of his idols; Eze_14:5. To grasp the house
of Israel by their heart, because they have turned away from me, all of them through
their idols. - We have not to picture these elders to ourselves as given up to gross
idolatry. ‫ה‬ָ‫ֱל‬‫ע‬ ֶ‫ה‬ ‫ל‬ַ‫ע‬ ‫ב‬ֵ‫ל‬ means, to allow anything to come into the mind, to permit it to
rise up in the heart, to be mentally busy therewith. “To set before one's face” is also to be
understood, in a spiritual sense, as relating to a thing which a man will not put out of his
mind. ‫ל‬ ‫שׁ‬ ְ‫כ‬ ִ‫מ‬ , stumbling-block to sin and guilt (cf. Eze_7:19), i.e., the idols. Thus the
two phrases simply denote the leaning of the heart and spirit towards false gods. God
does not suffer those whose heart is attached to idols to seek and find Him. The
interrogative clause '‫ֹשׁ‬‫ר‬ ָ‫דּ‬ ִ‫א‬ ַ‫ה‬ ‫וגו‬ contains a strong negation. The emphasis lies in the
infinitive absolute ‫ֹשׁ‬‫ר‬ ָ‫דּ‬ ִ‫א‬ et placed before the verb, in which the ‫ה‬ is softened into ‫,א‬ to
avoid writing ‫ה‬ twice. ‫שׁ‬ ַ‫ר‬ ְ‫ד‬ִ‫,נ‬ to allow oneself to be sought, involves the finding of God;
hence in Isa_65:1 we have ‫שׁ‬ ַ‫ר‬ ְ‫ד‬ִ‫נ‬ as parallel to ‫א‬ָ‫צ‬ ְ‫מ‬ ִ‫.נ‬ In Eze_14:4, Eze_14:5, there follows
a positive declaration of the attitude of God towards those who are devoted to idolatry in
their heart. Every such Israelite will be answered by God according to the measure of the
multitude of his idols. The Niphal ‫ֶה‬‫נ‬ֲ‫ע‬ַ‫נ‬ has not the signification of the Kal, and does not
mean “to be answerable,” as Ewald supposes, or to converse; but is generally used in a
passive sense, “to be answered,” i.e., to find or obtain a hearing (Job_11:2; Job_19:7). It
is employed here in a reflective sense, to hold or show oneself answering. ‫,בה‬ according
to the Chetib ‫הּ‬ ָ‫,ב‬ for which the Keri suggests the softer gloss ‫,בא‬ refers to '‫רֹב‬ ְ‫בּ‬ ‫גל‬ which
follows; the nominative being anticipated, according to an idiom very common in
Aramaean, by a previous pronoun. It is written here for the sake of emphasis, to bring
the following object into more striking prominence. ‫ב‬ is used here in the sense of
secundum, according to, not because, since this meaning is quite unsuitable for the ‫ב‬ in
Eze_14:7, where it occurs in the same connection (‫י‬ ִ‫.)בּ‬ The manner in which God will
show Himself answering the idolatry according to their idols, is reserved till Eze_14:8.
Here, in Eze_14:5, the design of this procedure on the part of God is given: viz., to grasp
Israel by the heart; i.e., not merely to touch and to improve them, but to bring down
their heart by judgments (cf. Lev_26:41), and thus move them to give up idolatry and
return to the living God. ‫ָזרוּ‬ֹ‫נ‬, as in Isa_1:4, to recede, to draw away from God. ‫ם‬ ָ‫לּ‬ֻ‫כּ‬ is an
emphatic repetition of the subject belonging to ‫ָזרוּ‬ֹ‫נ‬.
18

TRAPP, "Ezekiel 14:2 And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
Ver. 2. And the word of the Lord came.] Lest the prophet, seeing these seniors
coming thus unto him, should favour them too far, God uncaseth them, as he doth
mostly such gross hypocrites in this present life; Jeroboam and his wife, Ananias
and Sapphira, Simon Magus, and others for instance. How else indeed should the
name of such wicked wretches rot as they must? [Proverbs 10:24-29]
3 “Son of man, these men have set up idols in
their hearts and put wicked stumbling blocks
before their faces. Should I let them inquire of me
at all?
CLARKE, "These men have set up their idols in their heart - Not only in
their houses; in the streets; but they had them in their hearts. These were stumbling-
blocks of iniquity; they fell over them, and broke the neck of their souls. And should God
be inquired of by such miscreants as these?
GILL, "Son of man, these men have set up their idols in their heart,....
Though they look so grave and demure, seem so devout and religious, and hear with so
much attention and reverence, and express such a desire of consulting me by thee, they
are no other than idolaters; and though they are at such a distance from their native
place, and have not their idols with them, yet they have them in their fancy and
imagination, and their hearts are after them, and are set upon them; these engross their
affections, they are near and dear unto them, notwithstanding all their pretensions: or,
they "have caused their idols to ascend upon their heart" (p); their hearts are the altars
on which they worship them, and the throne on which they have placed them; they are
held in the highest esteem by them, and have the greatest honours done them, and have
the ascendant over them; even their "dunghill" gods, as the word (q) signifies; though
19

they are but dung, filthy and abominable, these they lay upon their hearts; and what else
is man's righteousness, when made an idol of, trusted to, and depended on? it is no
other, as the apostle says, than "loss" and "dung", Phi_3:8; and so every carnal lust that
is gratified and indulged is no other than an idol, or a dunghill god, set up in the heart:
and put the stumbling block of their iniquity before their face; whenever they
had an opportunity of so doing; for their hearts were not only inwardly affected to idols,
but they outwardly worshipped them; set them before them, and bowed the knee to
them, and prayed: and these idols are called "the stumbling block of their iniquity",
because by worshipping these they fell into sin, and so into ruin; they were the occasion
of their sin, and of their punishment; they stumbled at them, and fell, even though they
were before their eyes; nay, they set them themselves before their face, which shows
their obstinacy and resolution to continue in idolatry, though it would be their ruin:
should I be inquired of at all by them? suffer them to come near me, and put a
question to me, or be consulted by them through thee? no, I will not: or, "am I seriously
inquired of by them?" so some (r) render the words; no, I am not; or, "being asked, shall
I answer them?" so the Targum and Vulgate Latin version: or, "answering shall I answer
them" (s)? no, I wilt not, they deserve no answer from me; they shall have none other of
me than such an one as follows.
HENRY, "The account which God gave the prophet privately concerning them. They
were strangers to him; he only knew that they were elders of Israel; that was the
character they wore, and as such he received them with respect, and, it is likely, was glad
to see them so well disposed. But God gives him their real character (Eze_14:3); they
were idolaters, and did only consult Ezekiel as they would any oracle of a pretended
deity, to gratify their curiosity, and therefore he appeals to the prophet himself whether
they deserved to have any countenance or encouragement given them: “Should I be
enquired of at all by them? Should I accept their enquiries as an honour to myself, or
answer them for satisfaction to them? No; they have no reason to expect it;” for, 1. They
have set up their idols in their heart; they not only have idols, but they are in love with
them, they dote upon them, are wedded to them, and have laid them so near their
hearts, and have given them so great a room in their affections, that there is no parting
with them. The idols they have set up in their houses, though they are now at a distance
from the chambers of their imagery, yet they have them in their hearts, and they are
ever and anon worshipping them in their fancies and imaginations. They have made
their idols to ascend upon their hearts (so the word is); they have subjected their hearts
to their idols, they are upon the throne there. Or when they came to enquire of the
prophet they pretended to put away their idols, but it was in pretence only; they still had
a secret reserve for them. They kept them up in their hearts; and, if they left them for a
while, it was cum animo revertendi - with an intention to return to them, not a final
farewell. Or it may be understood of spiritual idolatry; those whose affections are placed
upon the wealth of the world and the pleasures of sense, whose god is their money,
whose god is their belly, they set up their idols in their heart. Many who have no idols in
their sanctuary have idols in their hearts, which is no less a usurpation of God's throne
and a profanation of his name. Little children, keep yourselves from those idols. 2. They
put the stumbling-block of their iniquity before their face. Their silver and gold were
called the stumbling-block of their iniquity (Eze_7:19), their idols of silver and gold, by
20

the beauty of which they were allured to idolatry, and so it was the block at which they
stumbled, and fell into that sin; or their iniquity is their stumbling-block, which throws
them down, so that they fall into ruin. Note, Sinners are their own tempters (every man
is tempted when he is drawn aside of his own lust), and so they are their own
destroyers. If thou scornest, thou alone shalt bear it; and thus they put the stumbling-
block of their iniquity before their own faces, and stumble upon it though they see it
before their eyes. It intimates that they are resolved to go on in sin, whatever comes of it.
I have loved strangers, and after them I will go; that is the language of their hearts. And
should God be enquired of by such wretches? Do they not hereby rather put an affront
upon him than do him any honour, as those did who bowed the knee to Christ in
mockery? Can those expect an answer of peace from God who thus continue their acts of
hostility against him? “Ezekiel, what thinkest thou of it?”
JAMISON, "heart ... face — The heart is first corrupted, and then the outward
manifestation of idol-worship follows; they set their idols before their eyes. With all
their pretense of consulting God now, they have not even put away their idols
outwardly; implying gross contempt of God. “Set up,” literally, “aloft”; implying that
their idols had gained the supreme ascendancy over them.
stumbling-block of ... iniquity — See Pro_3:21, Pro_3:23, “Let not them (God’s
laws) depart from thine eyes, then ... thy foot shall not stumble.” Instead of God’s law,
which (by being kept before their eyes) would have saved them from stumbling, they set
up their idols before their eyes, which proved a stumbling-block, causing them to
stumble (Eze_7:19).
inquired of at all — literally, “should I with inquiry be inquired of” by such
hypocrites as they are? (Psa_66:18; Pro_15:29; Pro_28:9).
COKE, "Ezekiel 14:3. These men have set up their idols— They are not only
inclined to idolatry in their hearts, but have actually set up idols, and worshipped
them. However, the prophet shews plainly, that their idolatries consisted not in
intirely deserting, but in polluting the religion of Moses with foreign worship. Div.
Leg. vol. 4: p. 47.
ELLICOTT, "(3) Have set up their idols in their heart.—It was not the open
idolatry of Judæa which is reproved among these elders of the captivity; that had
already passed away, but still their heart was not right. Like Lot’s wife, they longed
for that which they dared not do. With such a disposition, they were in the greatest
danger, putting “the stumbling-block of their iniquity,” the temptation to sin,
directly before them. And not only so, but they kept themselves in a state of
alienation from God, so that it was idle to imagine He would allow Himself to be
enquired of by them. The question implies the negative answer which is fully
21

expressed in the following verses.
TRAPP, "Ezekiel 14:3 Son of man, these men have set up their idols in their heart,
and put the stumblingblock of their iniquity before their face: should I be enquired
of at all by them?
Ver. 3. These men have set their idols in their hearts.] Though they would seem to
abhor idols, yet the devil is at inn with them, and their hearts are no better than so
many idol temples, as thou wouldst easily perceive hadst thou but my fiery eyes, and
couldst see their insides as I do. Sustulerunt stercoreos deos suos super cor suum, (a)
they have laid their dungy deities upon their very hearts; a place where I only
should be by right, for it is the bridal bed.
And put the stumblingblock of their iniquity,] i.e., They are impudent sinners, as the
scholiast (b) interprets it, and resolved of their course whatever comes of it.
Should I be inquired of (c) at all by them?] q.d., No, never; I scorn the motion, I
abhor such ludibrious devotion as this is. Away with it. Piscator rendereth the
words, An ergo serio interrogor ab eis? Thinkest thou that I am seriously sought
unto by these? q.d., Nothing less.
POOLE, "Verse 3
These men; who probably were come from Jerusalem, sent by Zedekiah, and
mentioned by Jeremiah, Jeremiah 51:59; some of the courtiers, who, more out of
curiosity than religion, give a visit to this famous prophet.
Have set up their idols in their heart; resolved idolaters, their heart was totally
addicted to their idolatrous worship and ceremonies, immersed in it.
22

The stumbling-block of their iniquity; their idols, so expressed, because they were
both the object of their sin, and occasion of their ruin. They account these idols to be
gods, and worship, fear, trust in, and plead for them; this is their sin, and ere long
this shall bring ruin on them. Can these men seriously consult me? Is it fit I should
give counsel to obstinate, resolved sinners, who come to inquire, but will not
hearken? Should I help them in their distress, who depend on idols which I hate?
4 Therefore speak to them and tell them, ‘This is
what the Sovereign Lord says: When any of the
Israelites set up idols in their hearts and put a
wicked stumbling block before their faces and
then go to a prophet, I the Lord will answer them
myself in keeping with their great idolatry.
BARNES, "Omit “that cometh.”
According to the multitiude of his idols - i. e., I will give him an answer as
delusive as the idols which he serves. Compare Micaiah’s answer to Ahab 1Ki_22:15.
CLARKE, "According to the multitude of his idols - I will treat him as an
idolater, as a flagrant idolater.
GILL, "Therefore speak unto them, and say unto them,.... That is, speak unto
them as a prophet, and as from the Lord, and say what follows; so the Targum,
23

"prophesy unto them and say unto them;''
thus saith the Lord God, every man of the house of Israel, that setteth up his
idols in his heart, and putteth the stumbling block of his iniquity before his
face; let him be who he will, one in public office, an elder of Israel, or a private person;
no respect will be had, no distinction made, nor favour shown; being an idolater in heart
and practice, secretly and openly, he shall bear the punishment of his sin:
and cometh to the prophet: the Prophet Ezekiel, as the elders of Israel now did, or
any other prophet of the Lord: the Vulgate Latin version adds, "inquiring of me by him";
expecting to have an answer, and one according to their wishes:
I the Lord will answer him that cometh; that cometh to the prophet; or, as the
Targum,
"that cometh to ask instruction of me:''
here is a various reading, a "Keri" and a "Cetib"; we follow the Keri, or marginal reading,
‫,בא‬ "that cometh"; and so does the Targum; but the "Cetib", or written text, is ‫,בה‬ "in it",
thus; "I the Lord will answer him in it" (t); in the question he puts to the prophet, or to
the Lord by him; or in that time, immediately; but not with smooth things, as he expects,
but with terrible things in righteousness; not in a way of grace and mercy, but in a way of
judgment; not as he desires, but as he deserves:
according to the multitude of his idols; in proportion to the number of his gods,
and his idolatrous actions, shall the answer or punishment be: or these words may be
connected with the word cometh, and be read thus, "that cometh with the multitude of
his idols" (u); with his heart full of idols, set up there; which is an instance of his
hypocrisy, seen and detected by the Lord; and of his impudence, in daring to come unto
him in such a manner; and of his folly, to expect a gracious answer from the Lord, this
being his case. The Targum understands it quite otherwise, as if the answer the Lord
would give would be a kind and agreeable one, paraphrasing this clause thus,
"although he is mixed (implicated or entangled) in the multitude of the worship of his
idols.''
HENRY 4-6, " The answer which God, in just displeasure, orders Ezekiel to give
them, Eze_14:4. Let them know that it is not out of any disrespect to their persons that
God refuses to give them an answer, but it is laid down as a rule for every man of the
house of Israel, whoever he be, that if he continue in love and league with his idols, and
come to enquire of God, God will resent it as an indignity done to him, and will answer
him according to his real iniquity, not according to his pretended piety. He comes to the
prophet, who, he expects, will be civil to him, but God will give him his answer, by
punishing him for his impudence: I the Lord, who speak and it is done, I will answer
him that cometh, according to the multitude of his idols. Observe, Those who set up
idols in their hearts, and set their hearts upon their idols, commonly have a multitude of
them. Humble worshippers God answers according to the multitude of his mercies, but
24

bold intruders he answers according to the multitude of their idols, that is, 1. According
to the desire of their idols; he will give them up to their own hearts' lust, and leave them
to themselves to be as bad as they have a mind to be, till they have filled up the measure
of their iniquity. Men's corruptions are idols in their hearts, and they are of their own
setting up; their temptations are the stumbling-block of their iniquity, and they are of
their own putting, and God will answer them accordingly; let them take their course. 2.
According to the desert of their idols; they shall have such an answer as it is just that
such idolaters should have. God will punish them as he usually punishes idolaters, that
is, when they stand in need of his help he will send them to the gods whom they have
chosen, Jdg_10:13, Jdg_10:14. Note, The judgment of God will dwell with men
according to what they are really (that is, according to what their hearts are), not
according to what they are in show and profession. And what will be the end of this?
What will this threatened answer amount to? He tells them (Eze_14:5): That I may take
the house of Israel in their own heart, may lay them open to the world, that they may be
ashamed; nay, lay them open to the curse, that they may be ruined. Note, The sin and
shame, and pain and ruin, of sinners, are all from themselves, and their own hearts are
the snares in which they are taken; they seduce them, they betray them; their own
consciences witness against them, condemn them, and are a terror to them. If God take
them, if he discover them, if he convict them, if he bind them over to his judgment, it is
all by their own hearts. O Israel! thou hast destroyed thyself. The house of Israel is
ruined by its own hands, because they are all estranged from me through their idols.
Note, (1.) The ruin of sinners is owing to their estrangement from God. (2.) It is through
some idol or other that the hearts of men are estranged from God; some creature has
gained that place and dominion in the heart that God should have.
JAMISON, "and cometh — and yet cometh, reigning himself to be a true
worshipper of Jehovah.
him that cometh — so the Hebrew Margin reads. But the Hebrew text reading is,
“according to it, according to the multitude of his idols”; the anticipative clause with the
pronoun not being pleonastic, but increasing the emphasis of the following clause with
the noun. “I will answer,” literally, reflexively, “I will Myself (or for Myself) answer him.”
according to ... idols — thus, “answering a fool according to his folly”; making the
sinner’s sin his punishment; retributive justice (Pro_1:31; Pro_26:5).
CALVIN, “Here God seems to treat those hypocrites too indulgently who pretend to
ask his advice and yet despise his counsel. But God here rather threatens what
would be destructive to the wicked than promises anything which they ought to
expect. It is indeed a singular testimony of God’s grace when he answers us: for
prophecy is an image of God’s paternal anxiety towards us and our salvation. But
sometimes prophecy only ends in destruction; and this is but an accident. Although,
therefore, God’s word by itself is naturally to be greatly desired, yet when God
answers as a judge, and takes away all hope of pardon and pity, no taste of his favor
can then be perceived. Thus this passage must be understood. God pronounces that
he would answer, but whom? The reprobate, and those who tauntingly inquired of
25

the Prophet what they should do. When he answers them, he only shows himself the
avenger of their perfidy; and thus his answer contains nothing else but the fearful
judgment which hangs over all the reprobate. For God does not here impose a
perpetual law on himself; for he does not always act in the same way towards all the
reprobate, but says that those impious ones should feel that they shall not profit by
their cunning and artifices, since they shall find the difference between God and
Satan: for they were accustomed to lies, and had itching ears; hence they wished to
have some pleasing and flattering answer from the servant of God, since the false
prophets gratified their inclinations. What then does God say? I will answer them,
but far otherwise than they either wish or desire: for I will answer them according
to the multitude of their idols: for they bring with them the material for their own
condemnation: hence they shall take back nothing from me but the seal of that
condemnation which is already placed upon their hearts, and appears on their
hands. In fine, God here laughs at the foolish confidence of those who inquire about
future events of his prophets; but meanwhile they have their heart bound up with
superstitions, so as openly to show their gross impiety: hence he says, that he would
answer them, not as they thought, but as they deserved.
COFFMAN, ""Therefore speak unto them, and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord
Jehovah: Every man of the house of Israel that taketh his idols into his heart, and
putteth the stumblingblock of his iniquity before his face, and cometh to the
prophet; I Jehovah will answer him therein according to the multitude of his idols;
that I may take the house of Israel in their own heart, because they are all estranged
from me through their idols. Therefore say unto the house of Israel, Thus saith the
Lord Jehovah: Return ye, and turn yourselves from your idols; and turn away your
faces from all your abominations."
"That taketh his idols into his heart ..." (4). The repeated mention of the idols
having been received in the hearts of God's people is exceedingly significant. It
means that they had learned to love the pagan gods and goddesses. Their secret
devotion belonged to their idols. The licentious ceremonies with which they had
worshipped their idols were dear to their hearts, and they strongly desired to renew
such practices. God's word they neither believed nor trusted.
"I, the Lord will answer him ..." (Ezekiel 14:4). Eichrodt labeled this as a
"contradiction" of the proposition that idolatrous inquirers would get no answer
26

from God. No, God did not indicate any such refusal to answer the inquiring
idolaters; he merely declined to send them any message through a true prophet.
They would get an answer, all right, it would be directly from God Himself. "This
answer would not have any relation at all to the curiosity of the inquirers; there
would be no words; it would consist of the execution of a sentence spelled out in
Ezekiel 14:8."[4]
"That I may take the house of Israel in their own heart ..." (Ezekiel 14:5). God was
here fighting to keep his people; and what is meant here is that, through his
judgments against them, he will touch their consciences and bring down their proud
hearts. God's purpose was always their restoration and salvation, never their
destruction. "Still, this is a threat of punishment."[5] "After all, to turn to other
gods was a crime worthy of death as clearly spelled out in the Law of Moses (Exodus
20:3-5; Leviticus 19:4; 26:1; and Deuteronomy 5:8; 12:3; 27:15)."[6]
"Return ye, and turn yourselves from your idols ..." (Ezekiel 14:6) The infinite
mercy of God is here seen in the fact that, while in the very act of pronouncing a
sentence of death upon his Chosen People, God here made one last solemn plea for
them to forsake the evil idolatrous ways to which their hearts so avidly desired to
return, in which guilty state they were already ensnared, and instead to give up all
of their evil practices and return wholeheartedly to the Lord.
ELLICOTT, "(4) Will answer him that cometh.—The words that cometh, not being
in the original, should be omitted. The verb answer in the original is in the passive,
and has a reflexive sense=“I will show myself answering,” a softer form than the
English. The principle that when man persists in going counter to God’s known will
He will allow him to misunderstand that will, is abundantly established by such
instances as that of Balaam (Numbers 22:20) and of Micaiah (1 Kings 22:15). No
man can hope to know what God would have him to do unless his own heart is truly
submissive to the Divine will. The threat here is, that the man coming to inquire of
God with a heart full of idolatry, shall receive no true answer from that
Omniscience which he does not respect; but will rather find himself deceived by the
illusions of his own heart. This idea is more fully developed in the following verse.
(Comp. Isaiah 44:20.)
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TRAPP, "Ezekiel 14:4 Therefore speak unto them, and say unto them, Thus saith
the Lord GOD Every man of the house of Israel that setteth up his idols in his heart,
and putteth the stumblingblock of his iniquity before his face, and cometh to the
prophet; I the LORD will answer him that cometh according to the multitude of his
idols;
Ver. 4. I the Lord will answer him.] Or, As I am the Lord (oath wise), I will answer
him, but with bitter answers
According to the multitude of his idols,] i.e., As by his abominations he hath well
deserved; or, concerning the multitude of his idols; that is a sin he shall be sure to
hear of, and to suffer for.
POOLE, " Mince not the matter, lessen not, neither vary, what I say unto thee, but
declare fully and undauntedly
unto them, though great men, and who will compliment with thee.
Every man, without exception, whoever be the man among the Israelites, that hath
his heart riveted to idols, and yet comes to the prophet, as if it were to know what
were best to be done, and what will be the issue of these times and things, I will
answer him but little to his satisfaction or safety; such answer shall such receive, as
in seeing they shall not see, &c. I will declare the greatness of their sin and
punishment; they multiplied idols, this their sin, I will multiply their sorrows; they
first run into darkness of idolatry, I will leave them to the darkness of misery. I will
give answer, but in just judgment, and with severe reproofs, and menaces, and
commands.
SIMEON "HEART IDOLATRY CONDEMNED
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Ezekiel 14:4. Thus saith the Lord God: Every man of the house of Israel that setteth
tip his idols in his heart, and putteth the stumbling-block of his iniquity before his
face, and cometh to the prophet; I the Lord will answer him that cometh according
to the multitude of his idols.
IT is gratifying to see the ordinances of religion well attended — — — but it is
painful to reflect how few there are who derive any saving benefit from them; or
rather, how many there are who find them, not a savour of life unto life, but rather
a savour of death unto their deeper condemnation — — — If we inquire into the
reason of this, we must trace it, not to the word itself, (for that, if dispensed aright,
is quick and powerful, as in the days of old,) but to the manner in which the
ordinances are attended. Men come up to the House of God, just as the Elders of
Israel came before the Prophet Ezekiel, with idols in their hearts; and, being
unwilling to part with them, they provoke God to withhold from them his blessing,
without which not the ministry of Paul himself could be of any avail.
In the case of Ezekiel’s hearers, we see,
I. What inconsistencies are found in the Church of God—
One would have supposed that these Elders of Israel would either have renounced
Jehovah altogether, or have put away the idols which estranged their hearts from
him. But they wished to keep up an appearance of godliness in the midst of all their
impiety; and therefore came to the prophet for instruction, at the very time that they
addicted themselves to the worship of their idols.
Thus it is that men come up to the house of God at this day: they cannot altogether
renounce their profession of regard for God; but,
1. They set up idols in their hearts—
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[The cares and pleasures of this world are as dominant in the hearts of the
generality as in the heathen themselves. And a love to these is declared by God
himself to he idolatry [Note: Colossians 3:5 and Philippians 3:19.] — — — And
shall I say that these “idols are set up in their hearts?” Yes, verily, and in their
houses also: for you may live for years in the houses of the generality of Christians,
and hear nothing, and see nothing, but what tends to exalt the creature above the
Creator, and proves, that Mammon, rather than Jehovah, is the god whom they
serve — — —]
Yet they wish to be thought the Lord’s people—
[They would be indignant if they were accounted heathens. They suppose
themselves to be Christians, notwithstanding they have not one real mark of
Christianity about them. If a mere attendance on public ordinances would suffice,
all were well: but if an inquiry be made, who or what stands highest in their
regards, not the worshippers of Baal, with their vestments on, can shew more clearly
“whose they are, and whom they serve.” The inconsistency of the elders who came to
Ezekiel, is apparent to all; but, if candidly examined, it is a perfect representation of
that which is found in the great mass of Christians at the present day. In truth, the
prophet himself marks the correspondence, when he says, “They came to him, as
Gods people came; and sat before him as God’s people, and heard his words, but
would not do them: for with their mouth they shewed much love; but their heart
went after their covetousness [Note: Ezekiel 33:31-32.].” A juster description of the
great mass, even of the better sort of Christians, is not to be found in all the book of
God.]
That we may guard you against these inconsistencies, we proceed to shew,
II. The fearful disappointment in which they will surely issue—
They cannot but be highly displeasing to a God of truth and holiness. Indeed he tells
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us, in our text, how such inquirers shall fare. He will answer them,
1. In a way of silent contempt—
[Amongst men, silence is often the severest answer: and such an answer shall all
such worshippers receive. God even puts the question to us, “Shall I be inquired of
by them? As I live, saith the Lord, I will not be inquired of by them [Note: ver. 3.
with Ezekiel 20:3.].” Of this indignant contempt we see an instance in Saul; whom
“God answered not, neither by dreams, nor by Urim, nor by prophets [Note: 1
Samuel 28:6.].” And this exactly accords with the experience of multitudes, who,
though they have attended the house of God ten thousand times, have never received
one answer to their prayers; and, though they have as often sat before the prophets
of the Lord, have never found any efficacy in the word, to convert and save their
souls — — —]
2. In a way of infatuating delusion—
[They come with their prejudices and vain conceits, no one of which do they desire
to have rectified and removed. God therefore gives them over to blindness and
hardness of heart, and to the very delusions which they have chosen [Note: Isaiah
66:4.]. He has plainly declared, that he will do this “to those who love not the truth,
but have pleasure in unrighteousness: he will give them over to strong delusion, that
they may believe a lie, and perish in their sins [Note: 2 Thessalonians 2:10-12.].” In
fact, these people prefer the prophets that will deceive them [Note: Isaiah 30:9-11.
Jeremiah 5:31.]; and they will either be given up to the guidance which they affect
[Note: ver. 9. with Jeremiah 23:17-18.], or be left under the influence of eyes that
cannot see, and ears that cannot hear [Note: Isaiah 6:9-10. 2 Corinthians
4:4.] — — —]
3. In a way of just and indignant reprehension—
[Against persons of this description, our blessed Lord himself, meek and lowly as he
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was, spake in the severest terms [Note: Matthew 23:13-33.]. And, verily, God will
answer them “according to the multitude of their idols;” “setting his face against
them, and consigning them over to the judgments which their hypocrisy has
deserved [Note: ver. 8. Matthew 24:31.]. His word to them is the very reverse of that
which will be uttered to his obedient people: “Say to the righteous, that it shall be
well with them; for they shall eat the fruit of their doings: but woe unto the wicked!
it shall be ill with him; for the reward of his hands shall be given unto him [Note:
Isaiah 3:10-11.].”]
And now,
1. Examine, I pray you, with what dispositions you have come hither at this time—
[In coming hither, to inquire of the Lord, have ye been sincerely desirous to know
his will; and fully determined, through grace, to obey it without reserve? O! judge
yourselves; for God knoweth your hearts, and his judgment will be according to
truth — — —]
2. Look to it, that this message from God produce in your hearts its due effect—
[If you will approve yourselves to God, you must “be doers of the word, and not
hearers only, deceiving your own souls [Note: James 1:22-25.]” — — —]
BI, "Verse 4
Ezekiel 14:4
I the Lord will answer him that cometh according to the multitude of his idols.
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Answered according to their idols
With them, as froward, the All-seeing will, in the psalmist’s terribly bold phrase,
“show Himself froward”; they will incur that penalty which Scripture describes as a
blinding of their eyes and a hardening of their heart, and which essentially consists
in their being left to themselves without the light which they do not sincerely seek
for--left, in fact, to take their own way, and see what will come of it. This line of
Biblical language has caused difficulties which cannot be passed over; the more so,
because one passage in which it is found (Isaiah 6:10) is of all passages in the Old
Testament the one most frequently cited in the New Testament; and St. John, with a
startling distinctness, attributes the “blinding” and “hardening” to the Lord. The
explanation must be found in that law of ethical life whereby persistency in self-
will--the process, as Shakespeare, in an awfully vivid passage, calls it, of “growing
hard in viciousness”--does inevitably produce moral insensibility. All serious
moralists, whatever be their theological standpoint, will admit this to be a fact; and
all who believe in a God will see in it a revelation of His character, so that when it
works He is, in fact, allowing it to take its course. And it is the method of Scripture
writers to impress the fact on men’s minds with a concrete vividness, by
representing such action on God’s part as a literal penal infliction. There, anyhow,
stands the fact, and we have to reckon with it. Let us’ also fear, and be on our
guard, lest, for lack of the single-eyed purpose which our Lord insists upon in His
great sermon, we too should be left in the great darkness which waits like a shadow
on hardness of heart. (Canon Bright.)
The blight of the idol
A man’s vision determines what kind of revelation he will accept. It will guide him
in the choice of his prophet: “Son of man, these men have set up their idols in their
heart, and put the stumbling block of their iniquity before their face: should I be
inquired of at all by them?” (Ezekiel 14:3). When an inquirer comes with his idol in
his heart, he is not an inquirer, but a claimant; he has brought with him the only
answer which he is prepared to entertain: he falls over the stumbling block of his
iniquity, and misses the light of the bright and morning star. How that “according
to” reverberates through the prophet’s messages! Here it declares that every idol
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carries with it a lie that will be believed for truth. There is an atmosphere in which
the true prophet cannot draw his breath and speak distinctly; the false prophet can
and that is the disaster. “Mischief shall come upon mischief, and rumour shall be
upon rumour; then shall they seek a vision of the prophet; but the law shall perish
from the priest, and counsel from the ancients” (Ezekiel 7:26). when idols flourish,
ideals perish. (H. E. Lewis.)
PETT, "Verse 4-5
“Therefore speak to them and say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord Yahweh, Every man
of the house of Israel who takes his idols into his heart and puts the stumblingblock
of his iniquity before his face, and comes to the prophet. I, Yahweh, will answer him
in accordance with it according to the multitude of his idols, that I may take the
house of Israel in their own heart, because they are all estranged from me through
idols.’ ”
Yahweh warned that He would not pretend that things were well. All those who
were taken up with idols, and chose to come before them in worship, thus making
them a stumblingblock in their religious lives, would receive a straight answer when
they came to God’s prophet. In accordance with the number of their idols He would
answer them, with warnings of severe judgment.
‘That I may take the house of Israel in their own heart.’ This may indicate that His
purpose in this was that He might turn their hearts towards Him and capture them.
For it was idolatry, and the immorality that went with them, that was causing His
hostile attitude towards them and thus estranged them. Or it may mean that His
intention was to take them captive in judgment just as they were, with their inner
hearts set on idols.
5 I will do this to recapture the hearts of the
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people of Israel, who have all deserted me for
their idols.’
BARNES, "That I may take ... - i. e., that I may take them, as in a snare, deceived
by their own heart.
GILL, "That I may take the house of Israel in their own heart,.... By which they
are ensnared, and drawn aside to their ruin; being given up to strong delusions, to
believe a lie, and worship idols; God threatening to answer them by righteous
judgments, and thereby take the wickedness, the hypocrisy, and idolatry, that were in
their hearts, and expose and make it manifest unto others; or, by punishing them, to
draw out the corruption and sin that were in them, that it might be seen what a wicked
people they were. The Targum interprets the text in another way,
"that I may bring near the house of Israel, and put repentance into their hearts;''
because they are all estranged from me through their idols; they grew shy of
God and his worship, when they fell into idolatry. Alienation from God, from the life of
God, from the law of God, from the worship of God, and of the affections from him, is
owing to some idol or another set up in the heart, or before the eye; whatever is
worshipped besides God, or gains the ascendant in the heart, alienates from him; and
God will not admit of a rival, he cannot and will not bear it; and for this reason he inflicts
punishment, or answers in a terrible way.
JAMISON, "That I may take — that is, unveil and overtake with punishment the
dissimulation and impiety of Israel hid in their own heart. Or, rather, “That I may
punish them by answering them after their own hearts”; corresponding to “according to
the multitude of his idols” (see on Eze_14:4); an instance is given in Eze_14:9; Rom_
1:28; 2Th_2:11, God giving them up in wrath to their own lie.
idols — though pretending to “inquire” of Me, “in their hearts” they are “estranged
from Me,” and love “idols.”
CALVIN, “He shows God’s object in being unwilling to dismiss without an answer
the hypocrites who still impiously trifled with him. He says, that I may seize the
house of Israel in their heart. It is yet asked how the impious are seized, when God
answers them neither according to the opinion of their mind nor their expectation,
but pronounces what they dislike and fear most grievously. I reply, that the impious
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are answered when they are driven to madness, and God thus extracts from them
what was formerly hidden in their own hearts. He says, therefore, that their impiety
may be manifest to all, I will answer them. For as long as God spares the impious,
they endeavor to soothe him by a kind of flattery; but when they see that they take
nothing by their false blandishments, then they roar, nay, bellow furiously against
God: thus they are caught in their own hearts: that is, all their former dissembling is
made bare, so that all may easily perceive that there never was a spark of piety in
their hearts. God, therefore, bears witness that his answers would be of this kind,
that he may take the house of Israel in their hearts; that is, that his severity may
draw out into the light what was formerly hidden; for the word of God is a two-
edged sword, and examines all the sentiments of men. (Hebrews 4:12.) Some are so
slain by this sword that they grow wise again; but others are stung with fury when
they see that they must engage with the power of God; therefore they are seized in
their own hearts when God twists from them what they would willingly have kept
always hidden. Since they have estranged themselves from me, literally, in their
idols. This passage is explained in two ways, as we have said. Some say, because they
separated themselves; but I approve of the other version, because they have
alienated themselves, and we shall understand the point more clearly afterwards
when the subject leads us to it. They alienated themselves, then, from God; that is,
when they had utterly declined from God’s law; yet, as long as this was concealed,
they still wore their masks. The separation of which the Prophet here speaks seems
to be referred to this pretense. Since, then, they so alienated themselves from me by
their idols; that is, he says they are deceived in thinking that they cannot be
discovered, and that their abominations, however foul they are, will remain secret.
And this agrees with the last clause, namely, that he would seize the hypocrites in
their own heart.
TRAPP, "Ezekiel 14:5 That I may take the house of Israel in their own heart,
because they are all estranged from me through their idols.
Ver. 5. That I may take the house of Israel in their own heart.] Ut deprehendam, or,
as others, ut reprehendam; that I may convince their consciences of their impieties,
and sting them to the heart with unquestionable conviction and horror.
Because they are all estranged from me.] And fallen in with the devil, who is
ειδωλοχαρης, as saith Synesius, a great promoter of idolatry. Idola sunt prima
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saliva, et initium deficiendi a Deo. (a) Idolatry paveth the way to utter apostasy.
POOLE, " That I may convince and pierce their very hearts, or lay open what is in
their heart, and discover their hypocrisy and impiety; because they have shamefully
followed idols, which now in their distress neither know the cause, or can frame a
remedy; and what folly is it to choose such gods! what greater impiety than this, to
adhere to idols, and forsake God, the only true God and Saviour?
Estranged from me; minds that increase their averseness to God. Idolatry draws the
man more and more from the Lord.
BI, "Verse 5-6
Ezekiel 14:5-6
They are all estranged from Me through their idols.
Alienation from God
We read here, in God’s own words, His rule of dealing with persons who come to
Him in a certain disposition of mind.
1. The word “estranged” implies a former condition of close relationship and
affection, from which they have since fallen. You would not apply the term to
foreigners. You would not say of a Frenchman that he was estranged from this
country, simply because he never belonged to it; but if an Englishman resided so
long in Paris as to lose his patriotism and interest in our affairs, you would say that
he was estranged. So, again, you would not say of a mere acquaintance, if you ceased
to see him, that he was estranged from you; but if the love of an old friend grow
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cold, if a child become indifferent to his home, or a husband fail in his devotion to
his wife, you describe such a falling off as estrangement. In this temper certain
elders of Israel presented themselves before the prophet of God. They came to
inquire His will and seek His aid. What self-delusion, then, is this! what blindness of
heart! Men coming to God to inquire of Him, and not knowing that there is that
within them which will forbid God’s hearing them! Who has persuaded them to
come this way at all? No voice but that of their own heart! And yet do you say that it
is their heart which bars the way of God against them? “Estranged from Me
through their idols!” Oh, to us, who may be as these elders of Israel, how hard does
this rule of God press upon us! Like them, only far more favoured in all spiritual
blessings, with everything to turn our feet towards God, the very currents of society
swaying us in this direction, the breeze of fashion gently impelling us hither, the
hand of custom with its constant but almost unfelt pressure laid upon the helm of
our daily life to guide us within the haven of the Church. We learn to say our
prayers, and prayer becomes a trick of words. Bibles are cheap, and in every man’s
hand. And yet, even now, there may be amongst us some who do not remember, that
with idols in our heart we are estranged from God, and that He will not be inquired
of by us at all!
2. But this is not the worst. The question God puts expects the answer “No”; and yet
it is not the answer which He gives it. His answer admits us to a nearer view of His
mysterious dealings with man. We see Him work by a rule that we know nothing of,
a rule of mystery, marvellous and inscrutable, but one which example and
experience teach us He applies with unerring force. When men thus estranged and
alienated from Him in heart present themselves in person before Him, He does not
refuse them an audience. They pray--He hears--their prayer is answered: but how
fatal is the gift which He grants! “I the Lord will answer him that cometh according
to the multitude of his idols.” What illustrations of the Divine conduct does
Scripture offer both in the Old Testament and the New! The Jews clamoured for a
king, and God gave them one, but in this wise,--“I gave thee a king in Mine anger,
and took him away in My wrath.” They cried in the wilderness for flesh,--“So they
did eat, and were well filled, for He gave them their own desire; they were not
disappointed of their lust. But while the meat was yet in their mouths,” etc., “and
smote down the chosen men that were in Israel.” Balaam received the king’s
messengers a second time, and though God had once answered him, he professed to
inquire of Him again. He came with idols in his heart, his affection estranged from
God: and what was the result? Did God forbid his praying? Oh that He had done
so! Did He refuse his prayer? Alas! He granted it, saying, “Rise up and go with
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them.” And Balaam, too happy to get the permission, went. But God’s anger was
kindled because he went: and the end was that he fell from sin to sin, selling himself
to do the tempter’s work; and he died among God’s enemies, his own pious prayers
and blessings ringing the curse of the hypocrite in his ears. There is yet another
example nearer the person of the blessed Lord Himself; and therefore the warning
is more terrible. Jesus chose but twelve to help Him in His work; and even on one of
these He looked--a man with idols in his heart--and said of him, “Have not I chosen
you twelve, and one of you is a devil?” This man came near to Christ, as the eleven:
he passed as one of them. He was with them almost up to the very last; he just
wanted a little time to go away and finally arrange the plot, and that time he had.
God gave him the opportunity,--say not gave, but permitted him. Jesus looked at
him and said, “What thou doest, do quickly.” Was ever prayer heard like that? was
ever man on earth answered after the multitude of his idols like that?
3. God’s purpose in answering the evil desires of hearts alienated from His love.
Their heart is to become their snare, the net in which they shall be caught, the pitfall
in which they shall be entrapped. Your talents and tastes and affections and ruling
desires,--the gifts with which nature’s hand has made you rich, the inheritance with
which you started in life,--your physical strength, your youth, your beauty, your wit,
your attractiveness, your amiable temper, your power of sympathy, your grace of
manner, your aptitude for business, your strong will, your influence over others--
with these you made your casts early in life: they have brought you in glittering
spoils and stores of comfort, and have enriched your home with pleasures and with
wealth. But these very instruments of gain, what else have you done with them?
Have they entangled you too much in the world? impeded you on your way to God?
implicated you dangerously with others? Have you ensnared others, and made
inextricable confusion in their projects of a peaceful, holy, happy life? And now, as
you grow older, are you so involved in this world’s business that you cannot escape
its toils? When Christ, the rightful Master of your heart, calls to you from the quiet
shore, and bids you leave your nets, and become, if not expressly “fishers of men,”
yet at least servants in His work, is your heart free to follow Him? is your heart His
at all? nay, is your heart your own to give? Have you not given it away already to
idols, to false gods, to the world? or it may be, you have lost your heart in sin!
(Archdeacon Furse.)
Things that estrange the heart from God
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It was a true and beautiful remark made by the mother of Wm. Allan, the Quaker
chemist, when she was seeking to win her son to give more attention to religion, and
to devote less time to the prosecution of his studies in his favourite and fascinating
science: “Remember, my boy, that Christ cast even the doves out of the temple.” The
lesson thus gently taught was effectually taken to heart. Young Allan learned, with
lasting profit, that the most innocent and lawful of earthly objects of interest may
not occupy that central place in our affections which our Saviour claims for
Himself; but in the souls of the redeemed all other desires will, without painful
effort, arrange themselves at due distances from this centre.
Repent, and turn yourselves from your idols.--
Repentance
1. Repentance is a turning from sin to God. It is not any turning, but a turning of
the judgment, so that men judge otherwise of God, of His laws and ways, of sin, of
themselves, than before; a turning of the will and affections, so that they are carried
wholly and fully unto God (Joel 2:12).
2. Repentance is a continued act. It is a grace, and must have its daily operation, as
well as other graces. Where a spring breaks forth it is always flowing.
3. Sinners should stir up themselves, and do the utmost which lies in their power to
further their turning unto God. “Turn yourselves from your idols”; use all
arguments you can to cause your hearts to turn from idols, and from other sinful
ways. Consider--
4. True repentance and turning to the Lord doth manifest itself in the effects and
fruits of it: it hath meet fruit (Matthew 3:8), worthy fruit (Luke 3:8). Now, here are
three effects thereof in these words:
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Sin not tolerated
When his people at Wittenberg showed him their licences to sin, Luther’s answer
was, “Unless you repent you will all perish.”. . . “Please God, I’ll make a hole in his
drum,” he said, when he first heard of Tetzel selling these indulgences. (Anecdotes
of Luther.)
6 “Therefore say to the people of Israel, ‘This is
what the Sovereign Lord says: Repent! Turn from
your idols and renounce all your detestable
practices!
GILL, "Therefore say unto the house of Israel,.... Deliver out the following
exhortation to repentance unto them; for God's end, in all his threatenings and
judgments, is to bring men to repentance:
thus saith the Lord God, repent, and turn yourselves from your idols; or,
"turn, and cause to be turned from your idols" (w); turn yourselves from the worship of
idols, as the Targum, and do all that in you lies to turn others from the same; particularly
your wives and young men, as Kimchi: and the rather they were obliged to do this, since
in all probability they had been the means of drawing them into idolatry:
and turn away your faces from all your abominations; their idols, detestable to
God, and ought to have been so to them; these he would have them turn their faces from,
not so much as look at them, much less worship them, that they might not be ensnared
by them; this is said, in opposition to their setting of them before their face, Eze_14:3.
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JAMISON, "Though God so threatened the people for their idolatry (Eze_14:5), yet
He would rather they should avert the calamity by “repentance.”
turn yourselves - Calvin translates, “turn others” (namely, the stranger proselytes
in the land). As ye have been the advisers of others (see Eze_14:7, “the stranger that
sojourneth in Israel”) to idolatry, so bestow at least as much pains in turning them to the
truth; the surest proof of repentance. But the parallelism to Eze_14:3, Eze_14:4 favors
English Version. Their sin was twofold: (1) “In their heart” or inner man; (2) “Put before
their face,” that is, exhibited outwardly. So their repentance is generally expressed by
“repent,” and is then divided into: (1) “Turn yourselves (inwardly) from your idols”; (2)
“Turn away your faces (outwardly) from all your abominations.” It is not likely that an
exhortation to convert others should come between the two affecting themselves.
K&D 6-8, "(Eze 14:2) And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
CALVIN, “Now God shows why he had threatened the false prophets and the whole
people so severely, namely, that they should repent; for the object of God’s rigor is,
that, when terrified by his judgments, we should return into the way. Now,
therefore, he exhorts them to repentance. Hence we gather the useful lesson, that
whenever God inspires us with fear, he has no other intention than to humble us,
and thus to provide for our salvation, when he reproves and threatens us so strongly
by his prophets, and in truth is verbally angry with us, that he may really spare us.
But the exhortation is short, that they may be converted and turned away from their
idols, and may turn their faces from all their abominations. When he uses the word
‫,השיבו‬ heshibev, in the second clause, some understand “wives;” but this is frigid:
others think the verb transitive, but yet impersonal, thus make yourselves return:
this also is harsh. (40) I have no doubt that the Prophet here exhorts the Israelites
that each should desire to reconcile himself to God, and at the same time bring
others with him. As many were mutually the authors of evils to each other, he now
orders them to do their utmost to bring back others with them: and surely this is a
true proof of our repentance, when we are not only converted to God one by one,
but, when we stretch forth our hand to our brethren, and recall them from error;
especially if they have wandered away through our fault, we must take care to make
up for the injury by at least equal diligence. The sense therefore of the Prophet is,
first, that, the Israelites should repent; next, that one should assist another to
repentance, or that they should mutually unite in the pursuit of piety, just as each
was previously corrupted by his companion and brother. This seems to be the full
meaning. Besides, this series must be remarked: because many show zeal in seizing
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others, and stretching out the hand to free them from error; but they themselves
never think of repenting. But the Holy Spirit here shows us the true method of
proceeding, when he commands us to repent, and then extends our desires to our
brethren who have need of our exhortations. At length he adds, withdraw your
faces, or turn away from all your abominations. A part is here put by the Prophet
for the whole, since turning away the face means the same as withdrawing all the
senses. Since, therefore, they had been almost affixed to their own abominations to
which they had cast their eyes, and were completely intent upon them, he orders
them to turn away their faces, so as to bid them farewell. It follows —
ELLICOTT, "(6) Repent and turn.—The announcements of the previous verses
form the basis for the earnest call to a true repentance. There can be no hope for
Israel in any merely outward reformation; they have to do with the Searcher of
hearts, and the only repentance acceptable to Him is that which has its seat in the
affections of the heart.
TRAPP, "Ezekiel 14:6 Therefore say unto the house of Israel, Thus saith the Lord
GOD Repent, and turn [yourselves] from your idols; and turn away your faces from
all your abominations.
Ver. 6. Repent, and turn yourselves.] Or, Turn others; for true converts will be
converting their brethren. They like not to go to heaven alone.
And turn away your faces.] Alii dicunt uxores vestras, saith Lavater here; your
wives, which are according to your hearts, like as in water face answereth to face.
Wean them from their idols, and win them over to the true God.
POOLE, " Unto the house of Israel; to these men the elders, whoever they are, give
charge that they repent, and by them send word to the residue of the house of Jacob
that they do so too.
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Repent; be sorry and testify your sorrow for such sins.
And turn yourselves; renounce them for future, cease to be idolaters, let your visible
carriage in reforming all be seen too. Amend heart and ways, let not your heart be
towards idols in point of religion, nor your practice in point of outward deportment
be vicious and immoral.
WHEDON, "Verse 6
STATEMENT OF THE DIVINE LAW WHICH CONTROLS EVEN FALSE
PROPHECY, Ezekiel 14:6-11.
6. Repent — The Lord will give to these idolaters no view of the future until they
pluck their idols out of their hearts and turn away from sin.
PETT, "Verses 6-8
“Therefore say to the house of Israel, ‘Thus says the Lord Yahweh, Return you and
turn yourselves from idols, and turn away your faces from all your abominations.
For every one of the house of Israel, or of the strangers who sojourn in Israel, who
separates himself from me, and takes his idols into his heart, and puts the
stumblingblock of his iniquity before his face, and comes to the prophet to enquire
for himself concerning me. I Yahweh will answer him by myself. And I will set my
face against that man, and will make him an astonishment, for a sign and a proverb,
and I will cut him off from among my people, and you will know that I am
Yahweh.’ ”
The constant repetition reveals how hard God was trying to drum in this lesson to
Ezekiel’s hearers, the people in exile. Idolatry had for so long been a hindrance to
Israel’s faith, as today Mammon and Sex are, and God was determined to root it
out. He again called on them to ‘return’ to Him and ‘turn’ themselves from idols,
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and the abominations that were a part of their worship.
But if they did not do so, and yet sought to a prophet to try to justify their position,
He would not answer through the prophet. Indeed He would deceive the prophet
(Ezekiel 14:9). And He would Himself answer in judgment those who refused to
reject idols. He would set His face against them and treat them in such a way that all
would remember it. They would become a sign. What happened to them would
become proverbial. For He would destroy them from among His people. Then would
all know that He was truly Yahweh, the living, holy God, Who would never condone
sin and unfaithfulness.
‘Return you and turn yourselves from idols, and turn away your faces from all your
abominations.’ A positive response was being called for, a turning about. It was not
enough to be ‘sorry’, they had to take positive action, a resolve once and for all to
have nothing to do with idols. This reflects a mistake made by many that all they
have to do is keep on saying sorry to God before they race back to the things they
love. But God requires a total turning about, a true repentance, reflected not so
much in tears as in obedience.
‘The strangers who sojourn.’ Note also that this was to apply to any who would take
up permanent residence among the people of Israel. It was necessary that they too
reject idolatry. (LXX here calls them ‘proselytes’). Otherwise they would bring
down the judgment of God on Israel. The success of this ministry was revealed in
that when exiles did return to Jerusalem they were particularly careful to spurn
idolatry and refuse ‘fellowship’ with outsiders. Possibly in fact, as men will, they
became too careful. But at least the lesson was learned.
7 “‘When any of the Israelites or any foreigner
residing in Israel separate themselves from me
and set up idols in their hearts and put a wicked
stumbling block before their faces and then go to
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a prophet to inquire of me, I the Lord will answer
them myself.
BARNES, "The stranger - They who sojourned among Israel, though they were not
of Israel, were bound to abstain from idol-worship Lev_17:10; Lev_20:2.
By myself - Or, as in Eze_14:4, “according to” Myself. He who comes to inquire with
a heart full of idolatry shall have his answer,
(1) “according to the multitude of his idols” - in delusion,
(2) “according to the holiness of God” - in punishment.
The inquiry was hypocritical and unreal - but God will answer not by the mouth, but
by the hand, not by word but by deed, not by speech but by a scourge.
CLARKE, "And cometh to a prophet - Generally supposed to mean a false
prophet.
I the Lord will answer him by myself - I shall discover to him, by my own true
prophet, what shall be the fruit of his ways. So, while their false prophets were assuring
them of peace and prosperity, God’s prophets were predicting the calamities that
afterwards fell upon them. Yet they believed the false prophets in preference to the true.
Ahab, about to engage with the Syrians, who had possession of Ramoth-Gilead, asked
Micaiah, the prophet of the Lord, concerning the event; who told him he should lose the
battle. He then inquired of Zedekiah, a false prophet, who promised him a glorious
victory. Ahab believed the latter, marched against the enemy, was routed, and slain in
the battle, 1Ki_22:10, etc.
GILL, "For everyone of the house of Israel,.... King and subjects, princes and
people, high and low, rich and poor, of every rank, sex, and age:
or of the stranger that sojourneth in Israel; the proselytes; whether of
righteousness, such as were circumcised, and embraced the Jewish religion; or of the
gate, who were only inhabitants with them; one as another were obliged to worship the
God of Israel, and abstain from idolatry; there was but one law to the Israelite and to the
stranger, respecting this matter:
which separateth himself from me; from the worship of God, and so from
communion with him; turns his back on him, and becomes an apostate from him, by
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Ezekiel 14 commentary

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Ezekiel 14 commentary