เอเสเคียล 22:1 วิจารณ์

Here are three separate messages which God entrusts the prophet to deliver concerning Judah and Jerusalem, and all to the same purport, to show them their sins and the judgments that were coming upon them for those sins. I. Here is a catalogue of their sins, by which they had exposed themselves to shame and for which God would bring them to ruin (v. 1-16). II. They are here compared to dross, and are condemned as dross to the fire (Eze 22:17-22). III. All orders and degrees of men among them are here found guilty of the neglect of the duty of their place and of having contributed to the national guilt, which therefore, since none appeared as intercessors, they must all expect to share in the punishment of (Eze 22:23-31).

In these verses the prophet by a commission from Heaven sits as a judge upon the bench, and Jerusalem is made to hold up her hand as a prisoner at the bar; and, if prophets were set over other nations, much more over God's nation, Jer 1:10. This prophet is authorized to judge the bloody city, the city of bloods. Jerusalem is so called, not only because she had been guilty of the particular sin of blood-shed, but because her crimes in general were bloody crimes (Eze 7:23), such as polluted her in her blood, and for which she deserved to have blood given her to drink. Now the business of a judge with a malefactor is to convict him of his crimes, and then to pass sentence upon him for them. These two things Ezekiel is to do here. I. He is to find Jerusalem guilty of many heinous crimes here enumerated in a long bill of indictment, and it is billa vera - a true bill; so he writes upon it whose judgment we are sure is according to truth. He must show her all her abominations (Eze 22:2), that God may be justified in all the desolations brought upon her. Let us take a view of all the particular sins which Jerusalem here stands charged with; and they are all exceedingly sinful. 1. Murder: The city sheds blood, not only in the suburbs, where the strangers dwell, but in the midst of it, where, one would think, the magistrates would, if any where, be vigilant. Even there people were murdered either in duels or by secret assassinations and poisonings, or in the courts of justice under colour of law, and there was no care taken to discover and punish the murderers according to the law (Gen 9:6), no, nor so much as the ceremony used to expiate an uncertain murder (Deu 21:1), and so the guilt and pollution remains upon the city. Thus thou hast become guilty in thy blood that thou hast shed, Eze 22:4. This crime is insisted most upon, for it was Jerusalem's measure-filling sin more than any; it is said to be that which the Lord would not pardon, Kg2 24:4. (1.) The princes of Israel, who should have been the protectors of injured innocence, every one were to their power to shed blood, Eze 22:6. They thirsted for it, and delighted in it, and whoever came within their power were sure to feel it; whoever lay at their mercy were sure to find none. (2.) There were those who carried tales to shed blood, Eze 22:9. They told lies of men to the princes, to whom they knew it would be pleasing, to incense them against them; or they betrayed what passed in private conversation, to make mischief among neighbours, and set them together by the ears, to bite, and devour, and worry one another, even to death. Note, Those who, by giving invidious characters and telling ill-natured stories of their neighbours, sow discord among brethren, will be accountable for all the mischief that follows upon it; as he that kindles a fire will be accountable for all the hurt it does. (3.) There were those who took gifts to shed blood (Eze 22:12), who would be hired with money to swear a man out of his life, or, if they were upon a jury, would be bribed to find an innocent man guilty. When so much barbarous bloody work of this kind was done in Jerusalem we may well conclude, [1.] That men's consciences had become wretchedly profligate and seared and their hearts hardened; for those would stick at no wickedness who would not stick at this. [2.] That abundance of quiet, harmless, good people were made away with, whereby, as the guilt of the city was increased, so the number of those that should have stood in the gap to turn away the wrath of God was diminished. 2. Idolatry: She makes idols against herself to destroy herself, Eze 22:3. And again (Eze 22:4), Thou hast defiled thyself in thy idols which thou hast made. Note, Those who make idols for themselves will be found to have made them against themselves, for idolaters put a cheat upon themselves and prepare destruction for themselves; besides that thereby they pollute themselves, they render themselves odious in the eyes of the just and jealous God, and even their mind and conscience are defiled, so that to them nothing is pure. Those who did not make idols themselves were yet found guilty of eating upon the mountains, or high places (Eze 22:9), in honour of the idols and in communion with idolaters. 3. Disobedience to parents (Eze 22:7): In thee have the children set light by their father and mother, mocked them, cursed them, and despised to obey them, which was a sign of a more than ordinary corruption of nature as well as manners, and a disposition to all manner of disorder, Isa 3:5. Those that set light by their parents are in the highway to all wickedness. God had made many wholesome laws for the support of the paternal authority, but no care was taken to put them in execution; nay, the Pharisees in their day taught children, under pretence of respect to the Corban, to set light by their parents and refuse to maintain them, Mat 15:5. 4. Oppression and extortion. To enrich themselves they wronged the poor (Eze 22:7): They dealt by oppression and deceit with the stranger, taking advantage of his necessities, and his ignorance of the laws and customs of the country. In Jerusalem, that should have been a sanctuary to the oppressed, they vexed the fatherless and widows by unreasonable demands and inquisitions, or troublesome law-suits, in which might prevails against right. "Thou hast taken usury and increase (Eze 22:12); not only there are those in thee that do it, but thou hast done it." It was an act of the city or community; the public money, which should have been employed in public charity, was put out to usury, with extortion. Thou hast greedily gained of thy neighbours by violence and wrong. For neighbours to gain by one another in a way of fair trading is well, but those who are greedy of gain will not be held within the rules of equity. 5. Profanation of the sabbath and other holy things. This commonly goes along with the other sins for which they here stand indicted (Eze 22:8): Thou hast despised my holy things, holy oracles, holy ordinances. The rites which God appointed were thought too plain, too ordinary; they despised them, and therefore were fond of the customs of the heathen. Note, Immorality and dishonesty are commonly attended with a contempt of religion and the worship of God. Thou hast profaned my sabbaths. There was not in Jerusalem that face of sabbath-sanctification that one would have expected in the holy city. Sabbath-breaking is an iniquity that is an inlet to all iniquity. Many have owned it to contribute as much to their ruin as any thing. 6. Uncleanness and all manner of seventh-commandment sins, fruits of those vile affections to which God in a way of righteous judgment gives men up, to punish them for their idolatry and profanation of holy things. Jerusalem had been famous for its purity, but now in the midst of thee they commit lewdness (Eze 22:9); lewdness goes bare-faced, though in the most scandalous instances, as that of a man's having his father's wife, which is the discovery of the father's nakedness (Eze 22:10) and is a sin not to be named among Christians without the utmost detestation (Co1 5:1), and was made a capital crime by the law of Moses, Lev 20:11. The time to refrain from embracing has not been observed (Ecc 3:6), for they have humbled her that was set apart for her pollution. They made nothing of committing lewdness with a neighbour's wife, with a daughter-in-law, or a sister, Eze 22:11. And shall not God visit for these things? 7. Unmindfulness of God was at the bottom of all this wickedness (Eze 22:12): "Thou hast forgotten me, else thou wouldst not have done thus." Note, Sinners do that which provokes God because they forget him; they forget their descent from him, dependence on him, and obligations to him; they forget how valuable his favour is, which they make themselves unfit for, and how formidable his wrath, which they make themselves obnoxious to. Those that pervert their ways forget the Lord their God, Jer 3:21. II. He is to pass sentence upon Jerusalem for these crimes. 1. Let her know that she has filled up the measure of her iniquity, and that her sins are such as forbid delays and call for speedy vengeance. She has made her time to come (Eze 22:3), her days to draw near; and she has come to her years of maturity for punishment (Eze 22:4), as an heir that has come to age and is ready for his inheritance. God would have borne longer with them, but they had arrived at such a pitch of impudence in sin that God could not in honour give them a further day. Note, Abused patience will at last be weary of forbearing. And, when sinners (as Solomon speaks) grow overmuch wicked, they die before their time (Ecc 7:17) and shorten their reprieves. 2. Let her know that she has exposed herself, and therefore God has justly exposed her, to the contempt and scorn of all her neighbours (Eze 22:4): I have made thee a reproach to the heathen, both those who are near, who are eye-witnesses of Jerusalem's apostasy and degeneracy, and those afar off, who, though at a distance, will think it worth taking notice of (Eze 22:5); they shall all mock thee. While they were reproached by their neighbours for their adherence to God it was their honour, and they might be sure that God would roll away their reproach. But, now that they are laughed at for their revolt from God, they must lie down in their shame, and must say, The Lord is righteous. They make a mock at Jerusalem, both because her sins had been very scandalous (she is infamous, polluted in name, and has quite lost her credit), and because her punishment is very grievous - she is much vexed and frets without measure at her troubles. Note, Those who fret most at their troubles have commonly those about them who will be so much the more apt to make a jest of them. 3. Let her know that God is displeased, highly displeased, at her wickedness, and does and will witness against it (Eze 22:13): I have smitten my hand at thy dishonest gain. God, both by his prophets and by his providence, revealed his wrath from heaven against their ungodliness and unrighteousness, the oppressions they were guilty of, though they got by them, and their murders (the blood which has been in the midst of thee), and all their other sins. Note, God has sufficiently discovered how angry he is at the wicked courses of his people; and, that they may not say that they have not had fair warning, he smites his hand against the sin before he lays his hand upon the sinner. And this is a good reason why we should despise dishonest gain, even the gain of oppressions, and shake our hands from holding bribes, because these are sins against which God shakes his hands, Isa 33:15. 4. Let her know that, proud and secure as she is, she is no match for God's judgments, Eze 22:14. (1.) She is assured that the destruction she has deserved will come: I the Lord have spoken it, and will do it. He that is true to his promises will be true to his threatenings too, for he is not a man that he should repent. (2.) It is supposed that she thinks herself able to contend with God, and so stand a siege against his judgments. She bade defiance to the day of the Lord, Isa 5:19. But, (3.) She is convinced of her utter inability to make her part good with him: "Can thy heart endure, or can thy hand be strong, in the days that I shall deal with thee? Thou thinkest thou hast to do only with men like thyself, but shalt be made to know that thou fallest into the hands of a living God." Observe here, [1.] There is a day coming when God will deal with sinners, a day of visitation. He deals with some to bring them to repentance, and there is no resisting the force of convictions when he sets them on; he deals with others to bring them to ruin. He deals with sinners in this life, when he brings upon them his sore judgments; but the days of eternity are especially the days in which God will deal with them, when the full vials of God's wrath will be poured out without mixture. [2.] The wrath of God against sinners, when he comes to deal with them, will be found both intolerable and irresistible. There is no heart stout enough to endure it; it is none of the infirmities which the spirit of a man will sustain. Damned sinners can neither forget nor despise their torments, nor have they any thing wherewith to support themselves under their torments. There are no hands strong enough either to ward off the strokes of God's wrath or to break the chains with which sinners are bound over to the day of wrath. Who knows the power of God's anger? 5. Let her know that, since she has walked in the way of the heathen, and learned their works, she shall have enough of them (Eze 22:15): "I will not only send thee among the heathen, out of thy own land, but I will scatter thee among them and disperse thee in the countries, to be abused and insulted over by strangers." And since her filthiness and filthy ones continued in her, notwithstanding all the methods God had taken to refine her (she would not be made clean, Jer 13:27), he will be his judgments consume her filthiness out of her; he will destroy those that are incurably bad and reform those that are inclined to be good. 6. Let her know that God has disowned her and cast her off. He had been her heritage and portion; but now (Eze 22:16), "Thou shalt take thy inheritance in thyself, shift for thyself, make the best hand thou canst for thyself, for God will no longer undertake for thee." Note, Those that give up themselves to be ruled by their lusts will justly be given up to be portioned by them. Those that resolve to be their own masters, let them expect no other comfort and happiness than what their own hands can furnish them with, and a miserable portion it will prove. Verily, I say unto you, They have their reward. Thou in thy life-time receivedst thy good things. These are the same with this, "Thou shalt take thy inheritance in thyself, and then, when it is too late, shalt own in the sight of the heathen that I am the Lord, who alone am a portion sufficient for my people." Note, Those that have lost their interest in God will know how to value it.

INTRODUCTION TO EZEKIEL 22 In this chapter a catalogue or list of the sins of the Jews is given; a comparison of them to dross is made, and they are dealt with accordingly; and a complaint is lodged against all ranks and orders of men for their sins; on account of which, there being no intercessor for them, they are threatened with captivity and destruction. The prophet is ordered to judge them, and lay before them their abominable sins, Eze 22:1, of which a long list is given, as murder, idolatry; contempt of parents; oppression of the stranger, fatherless, and widow; negligence of holy things; profanation of the sabbath; tale bearing, lewdness and uncleanness of various sorts; bribery, usury, extortion, and dishonest gain, Eze 22:3 for which the Lord threatens to deal with them in a manner that would be intolerable to them; that he would carry them captive, and scatter them among the Heathen, Eze 22:14, they are compared to dross, and as such should be gathered into a furnace, and melted down, Eze 22:17, all ranks and orders of men are complained of, because of their sins, and threatened, Eze 22:23, the prophets for their voraciousness, rapine, murder, and lies, Eze 22:25, the priests, for their violation of the law, neglect of holy things, and profanation of the sabbath, Eze 22:26, the princes, for their cruelty, murder, and dishonest gain, Eze 22:27, the people of the land, for their oppression and robbery, Eze 22:29, and there being none to stand in the gap for them, the Lord threatens to pour out his wrath upon them, and consume them, Eze 22:30.

Moreover the word of the Lord came unto me..... The word of prophecy from the Lord, as the Targum, another prophecy: saying; as follows:

(Chapter 22, Verses 1 onwards) And the word of the Lord came to me, saying: And you, son of man, do you not judge the city of blood, and show her all her abominations? And say: Thus says the Lord God: The city that sheds blood within herself, so that her time may come, and that has made idols against herself to defile herself. In your blood that was shed, you have sinned, and you have defiled yourself with your idols that you have made. You have brought near your days, and have come to the years of your punishment; therefore I have made you a reproach to the nations and a mocking to all the countries. Those who are near, and those who are far from you, will triumph over you (or mock you), you sordid noble, great in your destruction. Behold the princes of Israel, each one in his own arm was in you to shed blood. They have dishonored father and mother in you (or cursed father and mother). They have slandered the stranger among you. They have oppressed the orphan and the widow (or oppressed). You have despised my sanctuaries (Vulg. you have despised and polluted), you have profaned my Sabbaths. There were detractors (or thieves) in you to shed blood, and they ate on the mountains in you. They committed a crime (or, as it is more significantly in Hebrew, a heinous act), in your midst. They uncovered the shame of their fathers in you, and they humiliated the impurity of menstruation in you. And each one committed an abomination with the wife of his neighbor, and the father-in-law defiled his daughter-in-law wickedly. He oppressed (or humiliated) his own sister, the daughter of his father, in you. They received gifts from you to shed blood. You took interest and excess, and greedily slandered your neighbors (or and I will complete the fulfillment of your evil in your oppression); you have forgotten me, says the Lord God. Behold, I will clap my hands over your greediness which you have done, and over the blood which was shed in your midst. Will your heart endure, or will your hands prevail in the days I will bring upon you? I, the Lord, have spoken and I will act. I will disperse you among the nations and scatter you through the countries, and I will remove your impurity from you. I will possess you in the sight of the nations. (or according to the first edition of Aquila and Theodotion: And I will defile you, or according to Symmachus: And I will wound you in the sight of the nations) And you will know that I am the Lord. And you, he said, son of man (I will use the familiar term for you), judge the city of blood, and show it all its abominations, so that it may know that it deserves its imminent captivity, and that it has brought on its own ruin through much bloodshed. First and foremost among its sins, you have worshiped idols instead of God; and you have also defiled with your own hands the time appointed for your years, which was long spoken of and delayed, in order to bring about repentance. But you, according to your hardened heart, treasure up wrath for yourself in the day of wrath (Romans II). Therefore I have made you a reproach to the nations and a mockery to all the lands around you, both near and far. They will triumph over you and mock you. Filthy, noble, great in destruction. Filthy because you have ceased to be clean. Noble in evil, for once you surpassed all cities in nobility. Great in destruction: the higher you were, the harder you fell. And meanwhile, without mentioning everything else, I will mention a few things that have happened to you. Your rulers, judging not with justice but with the strength and might of the arm, shed innocent blood in you. Others have treated their father and mother with disrespect, even cursing their parents, as Scripture says: 'Whoever curses his father or mother shall be put to death' (Exodus 21:17). They have oppressed the stranger and the foreigner among you, as if their suffering and exile from their homeland were not enough for them. They have saddened and oppressed the orphan and the widow among you: so that those whose entire estate is in the justice of the law, would not only be saddened, but oppressed by you. You have despised my sanctuaries and holy things, and you have defiled my sabbaths: so that you would not distinguish between the holy and the polluted, between the decreed day of religion and the rest of the sabbath for the worship of God, and the other days on which it is allowed by law to work and serve the needs of the flesh. The detractors, whether according to Symmachus and Theodotion, were deceitful, because it is said in Hebrew: Rachil, and they were murderers in you, to blaspheme God, or to do all things with deceit or violence. And the wise men devoured on high mountains, and with pride elevated against God, they committed wickedness or incest in your midst, such things as rarely happen in corners and secret places, when they are avoided by evil-conscious men, you have done openly. The following discourse explains what incest is: They have exposed the more modest parts of their father in you, they have unlawfully joined with their stepmother, and have defiled the impurity of menstruation within you, showing no regard for nature, nor granting any truce to indecency, clinging instead to the wife of their nearest kinsman. And what is even more wicked, the father-in-law has burned with desire for his daughter-in-law, and the brother has disregarded the rights of his sister: he violated his sister, not one born of the same mother, but rather the one born of the same father. They accepted gifts in order to shed innocent blood. They turned the necessity of the poor into profit, in order to receive interest and abundance; and because of greed, they slandered friends. 'But you, O Jerusalem, have done this,' he says, 'because you have forgotten me. For the memory of God excludes all crimes.' Therefore, I have taken on the appearance of an angry Lord, and I have clapped my hands against your greed and against the blood that was shed among you, so that you may understand and comprehend whether I can endure my anger with either mind or hands. For I have spoken, and I will do it: and after thou shalt be taken, Jerusalem, I will scatter thee into nations, and I will fan thee in the air, and thou shalt be moved to and fro in every wind: and my wrath shall be accomplished in thee, and my indignation shall rest in thee. And I will do, so that I may signify: and I will cause my indignation to rest in thee, and my wrath shall depart from thee, and I will be pacified, and will be angry no more. And my wrath shall rest in thee: and my indignation shall depart from thee, and I will be pacified, and will cease to be angry. And they shall know that I the Lord have spoken it, and have done it, saith the Lord God. But if we follow the interpretation of Symmachus and Theodotion, of whom one says, 'And I will wound you, or kill you,' and the other, 'I will defile you before the nations,' all things must be interpreted in a negative sense. Although this is contrary to this meaning, which was stated above, 'And I will cause your filthiness to cease from you.' For the ceasing of filthiness is the restoration of purity. I have discussed both editions equally, in order to avoid the extent of the books.

This chapter contains a recital of the sins of Jerusalem, Eze 22:1-12; for which God threatens it with severe judgments, Eze 22:13-16, in order to purify it from the dross, Eze 22:17-22. And as the corruption is general, pervading prophets, priests, princes, and people; so, it is declared, shall be the punishment, Eze 22:23-31.

GOD'S JUDGMENT ON THE SINFULNESS OF JERUSALEM. (Eze. 22:1-31) See Eze 20:4; that is, "Wilt thou not judge?" &c. (compare Eze 23:36). the bloody city--literally, "the city of bloods"; so called on account of murders perpetrated in her, and sacrifices of children to Molech (Eze 22:3-4, Eze 22:6, Eze 22:9; Eze 24:6, Eze 24:9).

Blood-guiltiness of Jerusalem and the burden of its sins. Eze 22:1-5 contain the principal accusation relating to bloodshed and idolatry; and Eze 22:6-16 a further account of the sins of the people and their rulers, with a brief threatening of punishment. - Eze 22:1. And the word of Jehovah came to me, saying, Eze 22:2. And thou, son of man, wilt thou judge? wilt thou judge the city of blood-guiltiness? then show it all its abominations, Eze 22:3. And say, Thus saith the Lord Jehovah, City, which sheddeth blood in the midst of it, that her time may come, and maketh idols within itself for defilement. Eze 22:4. Through thy blood which thou hast shed hast thou made thyself guilty, and through thine idols which thou hast made hast thou defiled thyself, and hast drawn thy days near, and hast come to thy years; therefore I make thee a scorn to the nations, and ridicule to all lands. Eze 22:5. Those near and those far off from thee shall ridicule thee as defiled in name, rich in confusion. - The expression 'התשׁפּט וגו proves this address to be a continuation of the reproof of Israel's sins, which commenced in Eze 20:4. The epithet city of blood-guiltiness, as in Ezekiel Eze 24:6, Eze 24:9 (compare Nah 3:1), is explained in Eze 22:3. The apodosis commences with והודעתּהּ, and is continued in Eze 22:3 (ואמרתּ). לבוא עתּהּ, that her time, i.e., her time of punishment, may come: עתּהּ, like יומו in Eze 21:30. ועשׂתּה is not a continuation of the infinitive לבוא, but of the participle שׁפכת. עליה, of which different renderings have been given, does not mean "over itself," i.e., as a burden with which it has laden itself (Hvernick); still less "for itself" (Hitzig), a meaning which על never has, but literally "upon," i.e., in itself, covering the city with it, as it were. ותּקריבי, thou hast brought near, brought on thy days, that is to say, the days of judgment, and hast come to, arrived at thy years, sc. the years of visitation and punishment (cf. Jer 11:23). This meaning is readily supplied by the context. טמאת ה, defiled, unclean with regard to the name, i.e., having forfeited the name of a holy city through capital crimes and other sinful abominations. מהוּמה is internal confusion, both moral and religious, as in Amo 3:9 (cf. Psa 55:10-12). In Eze 22:6-12 there follows an enumeration of a multitude of sins which had been committed in Jerusalem. - Eze 22:6. Behold, the princes of Israel are every one, according to his arm, in thee to shed blood. Eze 22:7. Father and mother they despise in thee; toward the foreigner they act violently in the midst of thee; orphans and widows they oppress in thee. Eze 22:8. Thou despisest my holy things, and desecratest my Sabbaths. Eze 22:9. Slanderers are in thee to shed blood, and they eat upon the mountains in thee; they practise lewdness in thee. Eze 22:10. They uncover the father's nakedness in thee; they ravish the defiled in her uncleanness in thee. Eze 22:11. They take gifts in thee to shed blood; interest and usury thou takest, and overreachest thy neighbours with violence, and thou forgettest me, is the saying of the Lord Jehovah. - By the repetition of the refrain, to shed blood (Eze 22:6, Eze 22:9, and Eze 22:12), the enumeration is divided into three groups of sins, which are placed in the category of blood-guiltiness by the fact that they are preceded by this sentence and the repetition of it after the form of a refrain. the first group (Eze 22:6-8) embraces sins which are committed in daring opposition to all the laws of morality. By the princes of Israel we are to understand primarily the profligate kings, who caused innocent persons to be put to death, such, for example, as Jehoiakim (Kg2 24:4), Manasseh (Kg2 21:16), and others. The words אישׁ are rendered by Hitzig and Kliefoth, they were ready to help one another; and in support of the rendering they appeal to Psa 83:9. But in that case אישׁ לזרעו would stand for לזרע אישׁ rof dnat, or rather for אישׁ זרוע לאישׁ, - a substitution which cannot be sustained. Nor can they be taken in the sense proposed by Hvernick, every one relying upon his arm, i.e., looking to physical force alone, but simply every one according to his arm, i.e., according to his strength or violence, are they in thee. In this case היוּ does not require anything to be supplied, any more than in the similar combination in Eze 22:9. Followed by למען with an infinitive, it means to be there with the intention of doing anything, or making an attempt, i.e., to direct his efforts to a certain end. In Eze 22:7 it is not the princes who are the subject, but the ungodly in general. הקלּוּ is the opposite of כּבּד (Exo 20:12). In the reproofs which follow, compare Exo 22:20.; Lev 19:13; Deu 24:14. With insolence and violence toward men there is associated contempt of all that is holy. For Eze 22:8, see Eze 20:13. - In the second group, Eze 22:9-11, in addition to slander and idolatry, the crimes of lewdness and incest are the principal sins for which the people are reproved; and here the allusion to Lev 18 and 19 is very obvious. The reproof of slander also points back to the prohibition in Lev 19:16. Slander to shed blood, refers to malicious charges and false testimony in a court of justice (vid., Kg1 21:10-11). For eating upon the mountains, see Eze 18:6. The practice of zimmâh is more specifically described in Eze 22:10 and Eze 22:11. For the thing itself, compare Lev 18:7-8; Lev 19:15 and Lev 19:9. The threefold אישׁ in Eze 22:11 does not mean every one, but one, another, and the third, as the correlative רעהוּ shows. - The third group, Eze 22:12, is composed of sins of covetousness. For the first clause, compare the prohibition in Exo 23:2; for the second, Eze 18:8, Eze 18:13. The reproof finishes with forgetfulness of God, which is closely allied to covetousness. Eze 22:13-16 The Lord is enraged at such abominable doings. He will interfere, and put an end to them by scattering Judah among the heathen. - Eze 22:13. And, behold, I smite my hand because of thy gain which thou hast made, and over thy bloodguiltiness which is in the midst of thee. Eze 22:14. Will thy heart indeed stand firm, or will thy hands be strong for the day when I shall deal with thee? I Jehovah have spoken it, and also do it. Eze 22:15. I will scatter thee among the nations, and disperse thee in the lands, and will utterly remove thine uncleanness from thee. Eze 22:16. And thou wilt be desecrated through thyself before the eyes of the nations, and know that I am Jehovah. - Eze 22:13 is closely connected with the preceding verse. This serves to explain the fact that the only sins mentioned as exciting the wrath of God are covetousness and blood-guiltiness. הכּה , as Kg2 11:12 clearly shows, is a contracted expression for הכּה כּף אל (Eze 21:19), and the smiting of the hands together is a gesture indicative of wrathful indignation. For the form דּמך, contracted from דּמיך, see the comm. on Eze 16:45. - As Eze 22:13 leads on to the threatening of judgment, so does Eze 22:14 point in anticipation to the terrible nature of the judgment itself. The question, "will thy heart stand firm?" involves a warning against security. עמד is the opposite of נמס (cf. Eze 21:12), as standing forms the antithesis to passing away (cf. Psa 102:27). עשׂה אותך, as in Eze 16:59 and Eze 7:27. The Lord will scatter them (cf. Eze 12:15; Eze 20:23), and remove the uncleanness of sin, namely, by purifying the people in exile (cf. Isa 4:4). התם, from תּמם, to cause to cease, with מן, to take completely away. נחלתּ, Niphal of חלל fo lahpiN ,נחלתּ ., connected with לעיני גּוים, as in Eze 20:9, not from נחל, as many of the commentators who follow the Septuagint and Vulgate suppose. בּך, not in te, in thyself, but through thee, i.e., through thy sinful conduct and its consequences.