Chapter 6

1 The judgment of Israel for their idolatry. 8 A remnant shall be blessed. 11 The faithful are exhorted to lament their calamities.

1. The word of the Lord. This phrase indicates a new revelation following, doubtless, an interval of silence between this and the previous revelation. However, the prophecy is closely connected with the explanation of the symbolism of ch. 5. The interval cannot have been long; ch. 8 is dated in the 6th month of the 6th year, a little more than a year since the beginning of Ezekiel’s visions. The clause, “And the word of the Lord came unto me, saying,” seems to introduce each new revelation from God.

2. Set thy face. One of Ezekiel’s characteristic phrases (see chs. 13:17; 20:46; 21:2, 16; 25:2; 28:21; 29:2; 35:2; 38:2).

Toward the mountains. A poetic figure for the people inhabiting those mountains (see Eze. 36:1; Micah 6:2). Contrasted with the widespread plains in which Ezekiel found himself, Judea was a mountainous country. Furthermore, the mountains were centers of idolatrous worship (see Deut. 12:2; 2 Kings 17:10, 11; Jer. 2:20; 3:6, 23; Hosea 4:13).

3. To the rivers. The rivers and valleys are singled out, possibly because these, too, were scenes of abominable idolatry such as the sacrificing of children to Molech in the Valley of Hinnom (see Isa. 57:5; Jer. 7:31).

High places. Heb. bamoth. These were open-air sanctuaries at which the people offered sacrifices to Jehovah (see on 1 Kings 3:2). However, because the Canaanites had used the bamoth as centers of gross idolatry, worship at these places tended to degrade the religion of Jehovah. After the establishment of the Temple in Jerusalem the city became the one legitimate center for the worship of Jehovah. As idolatry spread, these high places became the centers for the most degrading heathen rites. Pious kings like Hezekiah and Josiah sought to put them down (2 Chron. 31:1; 2 Chron. 34:3, 4), but idolatrous successors restored them.

4. Your images. Heb. chammanim, from the root chamam, “to be warm.” From the same root comes chammah, sometimes used poetically for the sun itself (S. of Sol. 6:10; Isa. 30:26). From this some have surmised that the chammanim were connected with the worship of the sun. This cannot be established. We now know that chammanim were incense altars (see on 2 Chron. 14:5). The chammanim formed a part of the paraphernalia of the complicated system of idol worship that is here doomed to utter destruction. The verse is an echo of Lev. 26:30, where Moses pronounces the same judgments against the Jews for their evil deeds.

Idols. Heb. gillulim, perhaps from the root galal, “to roll,” hence an object that could be rolled, for example, a log. Some suggest a connection with gel, “dung” (Job 20:7; Eze. 4:12, 15), hence an object of contempt. Gillulim occurs 39 times in Ezekiel, and elsewhere throughout the OT only 9 times. Ironically these idols would be worshiped no longer by the living, but by the prostrate bodies of their dead worshipers.

6. Abolished. Heb. machah, a stronger word than “abolished.” It means “utterly obliterated,” “wiped out,” “exterminated.” The Israelites should have “exterminated” the idolatrous shrines of the Canaanites and so have effectively removed them as a source of temptation. Because of their failure to heed the divine command their own works would be obliterated.

7. Ye shall know. Instead of acknowledging God and heeding His revelations, the people “mocked the messengers of God, and despised his words, and misused his prophets, until the wrath of the Lord arose against his people, till there was no remedy” (2 Chron. 36:16). They refused to acknowledge the genuineness of the divine message until rudely awakened by the doom threatened by these despised prophets. The fulfillment of prophecy constituted the divine seal upon the validity of the prophet and his work.

In their idolatry the Israelites had compared Jehovah with the gods of the heathen and had regarded Him as only one of the many deities to be worshiped. Their choice of gods had been on the basis of who they thought would bring them the greatest prosperity (see 2 Chron. 28:23). In combating this demoralizing philosophy the prophets had set forth two main lines of evidence to prove the superiority of the true God over those who were gods only in name: first, Jehovah’s creative power, and second, His prophetic ability (Isa. 45; Jer. 10). This latter evidence is here presented as the one that would eventually force from the lips of the stubborn Israelites the confession that Jehovah was, after all, the true and only God. How the heart of God had hoped that such an acknowledgment would come while there was yet remedy! How loath God was to permit His chosen ones to reap the fruits of their own stubborn unbelief!

Prophecy and its fulfillment are elsewhere set forth as a reason for belief: “And now I have told you before it come to pass, that, when it is come to pass, ye might believe” (John 14:29). This constitutes, perhaps, the most powerful evidence that the Scriptures are divine, and that God is what He has declared Himself to be. Prophecy is the argument against which the skeptic has found no logical rebuttal. In our day there is an accumulation of prophetic evidence. Those who refuse to acknowledge its validity and thus the claims of the God who uttered it, will finally, like Israel of old, be forced to acknowledge the sovereignty of the only true and living God.

The expression “ye shall know” or its equivalent occurs 88 times in Ezekiel, and is the keynote of the book. It was because Israel did not “know” that they were carried into captivity (Isa. 1:3; 5:13; Hosea 4:6). The Captivity was an educational process. Through sore adversity, God’s people were to learn what they had failed to learn during times of prosperity (DA 28; see Vol. IV, p. 31).

8. A remnant. A gleam of hope in the prophecy of gloom, as frequently appears in the prophetic messages. Some would be moved by the hard conditions and acknowledge that they had done wickedly, and in a measure turn to their God. Through this remnant, God would seek to fulfill His promises.

The idea of a remnant is based upon the fact that salvation is an individual matter, that is, it depends upon personal choice. God can save out of a church only those whose experience measures up to the prescribed standard. Thus, out of the large body of Christians in the last days, only a remnant will “keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ” (Rev. 12:17). It is not God’s desire that only a few should be saved. He is not willing that any should perish (2 Peter 3:9). But the free will of man must choose salvation and, through the divine help offered, meet the standard.

9. Because I am broken. Some of the versions read, “I have broken,” that is, God broke their hearts in an effort to lead them to repentance.

Eyes. Here probably mentioned as the means by which their hearts have been enticed to evil.

A whoring. Apostasy from God is described under the figure of unfaithfulness to the marriage relationship (see Jer. 3:20).

Lothe themselves. Self-loathing is a mark of godly sorrow, which, if permitted to have its perfect work, leads to repentance (2 Cor. 7:10); otherwise the loathing represents only remorse for consequences. It was in such unholy remorse that the majority of the Israelites indulged. Nevertheless, some did sorrow after a godly sort. Like Job, they cried out, “Wherefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes” (Job 42:6). True sorrow is thus produced: God arrests a man in his self-willed course and bids him examine himself in the mirror of His perfect law. In the light of that law, which is the glory of the sinless Jesus, the soul discovers that it is honeycombed with sin. Self-exaltation vanishes. Intense self-loathing begins. When in this state the sinner casts his helpless soul upon Jesus and trusts wholly in the divine merits, his repentance is accepted.

11. Smite …, and stamp. Two outward gestures are commanded to convey a mixture of emotions, amazement, wonder, indignation, displeasure, grief, sorrow, and pity—first at the sin he has beheld and second at the evils he foresees (see Eze. 22:13; cf. Num. 24:10; Job 27:23).

12. That is far off. There would be no escape from these judgments. All, wherever they might be, would be overtaken.

13. Every high hill. A more complete characterization of the localities in which the people had reared idol shrines (see v. 6). Hilltops were favorite places for the erection of shrines.

14. Diblath. This place cannot be definitely identified. The name does not appear elsewhere in the Bible. Almon-diblathaim, a dual form, is mentioned in Num. 33:46, 47; and Beth-diblathaim in Jer. 48:22. These two towns, perhaps identical, were in Moab, probably to be identified with the modern Khirbet DeleilaЖt eshРSherqйЖyeh on the tableland on the eastern border beyond which lay the great desert that stretches eastward. Another possibility is that Diblath should read, “Riblah,” the “r” in Hebrew having been mistaken for a “d,” the two letters being very similar. Riblah is about 52 mi. (83.2 km.) south-southwest of Hamath. The town was used by Egyptian and Babylonian kings as a base of military operations in Syria (2 Kings 23:33; 25:5, 6). An alternative translation of the passage is “from the wilderness toward Riblah,” an expression analogous to “from Dan to Beer-sheba.” Thus, the whole region from the wilderness in the south to Riblah in the north would become a wilderness.

Ellen G. White comments

11  EW 34, 56; 1T 363