1The judgment of Israel for their idolatry. 8A remnant shall be saved. 11The prophet is directed to lament their abominations and calamities.
1AND the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
2Son of man, 1set thy face toward 2thea mountains of Israel, and prophesy against them,
1 That is, take a strong resolution, and make thyself ready to prophecy boldly and undauntedly against them. Also Ezek. 13:17; 20:46; 21:2; 25:2; 28:21; 35:2; 38:2.
2 Namely, which were near and round about Jerusalem. See Psalm 125:2. Understand the land and kingdom of Judah, which is called Israel, not only because the Jews as well as the Israelites descended from the patriarch Israel, that is, Jacob, but for other causes also, mentioned in 2 Chron. 15 on verse 17; 2 Chron. 21 on verse 2.
a Ezek. 36:1.
3And say, Ye 3mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Lord GOD; Thus saith the Lord GOD to the mountains, and to the hills, to the 4rivers, and to the valleys; Behold, I, even I, will bring a 5sword upon you, and I will destroy your 6high places.
3 Understand the people who dwelt upon the mountains. As such must in the following words hills, brooks and valleys be taken, namely, for those who had their habitations upon or by or in the same. Compare Judges 1:19; Psalm 98:8; Ezek. 36:1; Micah 6:1, 2.
4 Or, streams, floods, brooks, pools, which strongly spread forth their course in the land. As such the word is taken Job 6:15; Ezek. 31:12; 35:8.
5 That is, war. See Lev. 26:6; 2 Chron. 20:9, and the annotations.
6 See Lev. 26 on verse 30.
4And your 7altars shall be desolate, and your 8images shall be broken: and I will cast down 9your slain men before your 10idols.
7 Namely, which they had set up to the honor of their idols.
8 See of these Lev. 26 on verse 30.
9 Or, your mortally wounded men. Understand the Jews, who would be slain and murdered by their enemies, even when they would be fled to their idols, to be helped by them in their necessity.
10 See Lev. 26 on verse 30.
5And 11I will 12lay the dead carcases of the children of Israel before their idols; and I will scatter your bones round about your altars.
11 That is, I will not only cause them to be slain before their idols, but I will also cause their dead bodies and the pieces thereof to lie and to be scattered about their idolatrous altars, to defile them therewith. For, the dead bodies of men were held to be most loathsome and abominable about altars and sacrifice.
12 Hebr. properly: give.
613In all your dwellingplaces the cities shall be laid waste, and the high places shall be desolate; that your altars may be laid waste and made desolate, and your idols may be broken and cease, and your images may be cut down, 14and your works may be abolished.
13 That is, in all places where you might dwell.
14 Understand the images and idols, with all their idolatrous furniture made by men’s hands. See 2 Kings 22 on verse 17.
7And the slain shall 15fall in the midst of you, and 16ye shall know that I am the 17LORD.
15 Or, lie. Hebr. fall. Falling for lying, see Jer. 9 on verse 22.
16 See Ezek. 5 on verse 13.
17 That is, the only and true God, Who has spoken these things by My prophets, and will make it actually appear that I am both true and just. Also verse 10; Ezek. 11:10; 12:15, etc.
8¶Yet will I leave a remnant, that ye may have some 18that shall escape the sword among the nations, when ye shall be scattered through the countries.
18 Hebr. escapers of the sword. Understand those who would indeed become exiles in foreign countries, but by the grace of God would remain alive for their good, in order that God preserved here unto Himself a certain people in the midst of all destructions.
9And they that escape of you shall remember 19me among the nations whither they shall be carried captives, because I am 20broken with their 21whorish heart, which hath departed from me, and with their 22eyes, which go a whoring after their idols: and they shall 23lothe 24themselves 25for the evils which they have committed in all their abominations.
19 Namely, Whom they, being in their prosperity and living in pleasures, had forgotten. To remember God is here to return unto Him by forsaking their former wicked life. Compare Jer. 51:50.
20 That is, have troubled and vexed Myself. This is spoken of God after the manner of men, to show that the sins of the Jews extremely displeased Him, and hindered and severed the course of His mercies towards them.
21 Understand this of the spiritual whoredom, which is idolatry. See Lev. 17 on verse 7; Lev. 20 on verse 5.
22 Compare Ezek. 20 on verse 24.
23 That is, abhorring themselves with painful sorrow and piercing of heart on account of their former life, and convert themselves unto God. Compare Ezek. 20:43; 36:31.
24 Hebr. in their faces, that is, on themselves.
25 The Hebrew particle is likewise so taken 1 Kings 21:22; 2 Kings 7:7, and here in verse 11.
10And they 26shall know that I am the LORD, and that I have not said in 27vain that I would do this evil unto them.
26 See Ezek. 5 on verse 13.
27 Namely, because My faithfulness requires that I would admonish and threaten them as such by My prophets, and My justice, that would so destroy them by their enemies.
11¶Thus saith the Lord GOD; 28Smiteb with thine hand, 29and stamp with thy foot, and say, Alas for all the evil abominations of the house of Israel! for they shall 30fall by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence.
28 Namely, unto a sign of sorrow and heaviness which thou shalt make for the sins of the people, and the punishments which shall follow thereupon. Compare Num. 24:10, and the annotation. Smiting or clapping the hand (but with other words in the original) has also been used as a sign of contempt. See Job 34 on verse 37; Lam. 2:15. Yes, even as a sign of joy, Psalm 47:1; 98:8; Ezek. 25:6. And of contracts, Job 17 on verse 3.
b Ezek. 21:17.
29 Also unto a sign of sorrow. A similar sign is to smite upon the thigh or hip, Jer. 31:19; Ezek. 21:12.
30 That is, perish and die. See Gen. 14:10 and the annotation; Lev. 26:7 and the annotation.
12He that is 31far off shall die of the pestilence; and he that is 32near shall fall by the sword; and he that remaineth and is 33besieged shall die by the famine: thus will I accomplish my fury upon them.
31 Understand those who would be fled into the countries round about, or would hide themselves here and there in woods and caves.
32 That is, those who would fall into the hand of the Chaldeans.
33 Namely, in the city Jerusalem. Other, is preserved.
13Then shall ye know that I am the LORD, when their slain men shall be among their idols round about their altars, upon 34every high hill, in all the tops of the mountains, and under every green tree, and under every 35thick oak, the place where they did offer 36sweet savour to all their idols.
34 See Deut. 12 on verse 2; 1 Kings 14:23; 2 Kings 16:4.
35 That is, very thick branched oaks.
36 Hebr. favour of rest, namely, of sacrifices or incense, in which they conceived that their idols had rest, pleasure and delight; and thus imitated what God had appointed. See Gen. 8 on verse 21; Lev. 26 on verse 31.
14So will I stretch out my hand upon them, and make the land desolate, yea, more desolate than 37the wilderness toward 38Diblath, in all their habitations: and they shall know that I am the LORD.
37 It is conceived that this wilderness is situated in the land of the Moabites, being very terrible by reason of its extraordinary desolation, through which wilderness the Israelites passed when they first were to enter into the land of Canaan, Num. 33:47; Jer. 48:22.
38 A city (as conceived) in the aforementioned land of the Moabites; otherwise called: Diblathaim, Jer. 48:22.