Ezekiel 14

Notes

Ver. 3-10. They have given their idols the highest place in their esteem and affections, and have set them up before them as objects of worship.—If any such consult me by a prophet, let them expect nothing but fearful denunciations of judgments, answerable to their abominable idolatries, and the horrid wickedness of their heart; answerable likewise to my glorious perfections, which I will magnify in making them the lasting monuments of just indignation.—Their false prophets will I give up to the delusions of their own heart, that I may fearfully destroy them and those who consult them. 21-23. Either the deep repentance and penitent acknowledgments of those who should be brought to Babylon, or their sinful obduracy and horrid vices, would convince these who had been formerly carried captive, that God had justly desolated their country, and make them glad that themselves had been so early carried captive.

Ver. 7. Which separateth himself from me. The Israelites did not purpose to 'separate themselves from God—nay, they came with apparent teachableness to receive instruction from his prophet—yet God pronounced them 'separate,' because he had said, 'Thou shalt have no other gods before me.' An awful lesson to those churches both in the East and the West that have combined pictures, images, relics, and tutelary saints with the worship of Father, Son and Holy Spirit; and not less awful to those of the Reformed churches, who, rejecting all outward idolatry, have yet set up in their hearts the love of the world in any of its idolatrous forms, Col. 3. 5; 1 Jn. 2. 15, 16; 5. 21. C.—Answer him by myself. Not by a reply from the prophet, but by a judgment inflicted by my own hand.—Note, This is the case with all who are seekers after religious knowledge, but careless of religious practice, or living in the indulgence of some secret sin. Let them know assuredly 'their sin will find them out,' and their Judge who seeth in secret will punish them openly. C.

Ver. 9. I the Lord have deceived that prophet. God does not influentially deceive the prophet into an error; but if, like Balaam, the prophet 'love the wages of unrighteousness,' then God adjudges him to be given over to the counsel of his own heart, Ro. 24. 28; and if, like Judas, he be a traitor to his country or his God, God adjudges him to be given up to Satanic possession, Lu. 22. 3-6, and so he becomes at once the dupe and the propagator of lies. C.

Reflections.—The very worst of men too often hypocritically put on specious appearances of religion. But it is at their peril to mock God, or attempt imposing upon him. His judgments will fall upon them answerably to what they really are in his sight. Their sin, shame, and misery are all owing to themselves. And of all sinners, the doom of hypocrites and deceitful preachers will be the most terrible. If we serve idols, our heart cannot fail to be estranged from God, and we must be for ever separated from him. If we love to be flattered in our sins, God will justly give us up to such flattery. And dreadful at last shall be the punishment both of deceivers and deceived. The punishments of sin on earth are intended to prevent others from the commission of it. Nor does God ever take men into covenant with himself without purging them from their odious iniquities. National sins, carried on to an enormous height, cannot long fail to bring on national judgments. And if men who receive distinguished favours notoriously rebel, they may expect complicated judgments. God often averts general calamities for the sake of a few, who, in the general corruption, are singularly upright, pious, humble, and mighty in prayer. But if nations be singularly ripened for ruin, such can only obtain their own deliverance, or a blessing on their own share in the common calamity: Yet how pleasant it is in evil days to see sinners become monuments of mercy, and to see such benefited by his judgments and repenting of their sin! And it is well when God is not only justified, but glorified, in the manifested wisdom and goodness of his afflictive dispensations.