Paul Kretzmann Commentary - Ezekiel 6:1 - 6:7

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Paul Kretzmann Commentary - Ezekiel 6:1 - 6:7


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The Desolation of the Land and the Slaughter of the Idolaters

v. 1. And the word of the Lord came unto me, again in direct verbal inspiration, saying,

v. 2. Son of man, set thy face toward the mountains of Israel,
in a prophecy of condemnation, and prophesy against them,

v. 3. and say, Ye mountains of Israel,
the special places of idolatrous cults, here representing the entire country formerly occupied by the Lord's people, hear the word of the Lord God, of the sovereign Ruler of the universe: Thus saith the Lord God to the mountains and to the hills, the high places of heathen worship, to the rivers and to the valleys, where the idolaters lived, Behold, I, even I, will bring a sword upon you, the murderous sword of the invading foes, and I will destroy your high places, where the altars and sanctuaries erected to idols were commonly found.

v. 4. And your altars,
namely, those devoted to the service of idols, shall be desolate, and your images shall be broken, the sun-pillars erected in honor of the Phoenician god Baal; and I will cast down your slain men before your idols. In the original the word here used has a contemptuous flavor, so that it means either stone monuments, loose stones, dead masses of stone, or—dung-idols. In the presence of the very logs or pillars in which they trusted these men would be slaughtered, for their idols were powerless to help them.

v. 5. And I will lay the dead carcasses of the children of Israel before their idols,
as a proper votive offering; and I will scatter your bones round about your altars, a fitting mockery of their idolatrous trust.

v. 6. In all your dwelling-places,
that is, throughout the country occupied by them, the cities shall be laid waste, and the high places shall be desolate, heaps of ruins, that your altars may be laid waste and made desolate and your idols may be broken and cease, totally exterminated, and your images may be cut down, the sun-pillars being destroyed utterly, and your works may be abolished, all the buildings and vessels of idolatry which they had erected or made.

v. 7. And the slain shall fail in the midst of you,
so that some, indeed, would still be delivered, and ye shall know that I am the Lord, the one and only true God, as contrasted with the idols, which have no true existence and pass away under the blows of the enemy's hammer. The falling of the slain, of the idolaters with their idols, leads to the knowledge of Jehovah as the almighty Lord.