Ezekiel 48

Ezekiel 48:1

Hath not eaten - Hath not committed idolatry, offering sacrifice, and eating of the things sacrificed to idols; whose temples and altars were on mountains, chap. 20. & 28. Hosea 4:13.

Ezekiel 48:3

Increase - Illegal interest. Iniquity - Injustice of every kind.

Ezekiel 48:4

Shall live - Shall be delivered from famine, pestilence, and sword, and shall see good days.

Ezekiel 48:8

His blood - Heb. ‘Tis plural, bloods; both the blood of the innocent which he murdered, and his own blood which thereby he forfeited; the blood of his own soul and life: that is the whole blame of his misery in time and eternity, shall lie upon himself.

Ezekiel 48:12

Hath taken off - Withdrawn his hand from hurting or wronging the poor, tho’ he had power to do it securely.

Ezekiel 48:15

Shall not bear - This is a most unquestionable truth; and tho’ perhaps it may seem otherwise in some cases, yet could we see perfectly the connexion between persons and persons; could we see the connexion of sins and sins, and how easily, secretly, and undiscerned men become guilty of the same sins, we should see father and son, though perhaps one of them might not do the evil, both guilty, and neither punished for the sin farther than if it was his own: nor do the scriptures, Exodus 20:5 Deuteronomy 28:18, doom persons to punishment for sins from which they are wholly free; but if children shall follow their fathers in sin, then if they die for those sins, ’tis because these are their own, not as they are their fathers. The righteousness - It shall be well with the righteous, for he shall eat the fruit of his doing, he shall be rewarded as a righteous one. The wickedness - The reward of wickedness. “The son shall not die, not die eternally, for the iniquity of the father, if he do not tread in the steps of it: nor the father for the iniquity of the son, if he do all he can to prevent it.

Ezekiel 48:17

Not mentioned - Not to him.

Ezekiel 48:20

The way - His whole management of affairs. Not equal - Not right, or consistent with his own declaration, and law.

Ezekiel 48:23

He shall surely live - “That is, he shall be restored to the favour of God, which is the life of the soul.”

Ezekiel 48:26

Make you a new heart - Suffer me to do it in you.

Ezekiel 48:27

I have no pleasure - Sinners displease God when they undo themselves; they please him when they return.

Ezekiel 48:29

For the princes - Jehoahaz, Jehoiachim, Jehoiachin, and Zedekiah.

Ezekiel 48:30

What - What resemblance shall I use to set out the nature, deportment, and state of the mother of these princes? Thy - One of whom was upon the throne at once, and therefore the prophet speaks to one at a time. Mother - The land of Judea, and Jerusalem, the chief city of it, the royal family of David. Lioness - Tho’ chosen of God to execute justice; yet they soon degenerated into the fierce and ravening nature of the lioness. Lay down - Associated, and grew familiar with neighbour kings, called here lions; fierce and bloody. Her whelps - Her sons, successors to the crown. Young lions - Either foreign princes and kings, or some of the fierce, unjust, tyrannizing princes at home.

Ezekiel 48:31

Brought up - Advanced, caused him to take the throne after the slaughter of Josiah. One - Jehoahaz the second son of Josiah. Became - Soon shewed his fierce, cruel, and bloody disposition.

Ezekiel 48:32

The nations - The Egyptians heard what he did.

Ezekiel 48:33

Made him - King, and infused the lion - like maxims into him.

Ezekiel 48:34

He - Jehoiachim. Went up - He continued eleven years on the throne; whereas Jehoahaz was taken as soon as he first ventured out. The lions - Heathen kings, with whom he entered into leagues. He became - Fierce, ravenous, unsatiable.

Ezekiel 48:35

He knew - By taking them, he came to know their places, which are here called, what he made them, desolate. Roaring - By the perpetual violent threats of this cruel king.