and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord Jehovah In the day when I chose Israel, and lifted up my hand unto the seed of the house of Jacob, and made myself known unto them in the land of Egypt, when I lifted up my hand unto them, saying, I [am] Jehovah your God,
The elders of Israel came to ask God a question, and He answers by taking them back centuries. He points to the day He chose their nation, swore to them, and gave them His name — while they were still slaves in Egypt, with nothing to their credit.
(Older translations read "lifted up my hand" where the ESV has "I swore," and print God's covenant name as "Jehovah" where the ESV has "the LORD.")
The history lesson that starts here is not God changing the subject. He answers the elders by showing them where their own hearts came from.
God will not allow any more questions from them. Their own consciences would show that their hearts were untrue in the question itself. So there was no need to do more than remind them of their fathers' detestable practices. In them they would see a mirror of their own. For this reason He sets the long history before them. It begins at the time God chose them and made Himself known in the land of Egypt. His purpose was to bring them out into the land He had picked for them.
God repeats the same act twice in this one verse. One writer sees the repetition as deliberate. God is pressing on them that He has bound Himself by a promise He cannot change.
See how strikingly Jehovah keeps reminding His people of His oath! He swore by Himself, since He could swear by no one greater. In that way He wanted to show even more fully that His purpose never changes. The apostle says the gifts and calling of God are not subject to any change of mind, and he says it of Israel in particular. For this very reason He judges and must judge their ways. If He did not, He would have to approve or excuse sin.
That is the balance of the whole chapter. The oath cannot be broken. That is exactly why God does not go easy on the people who carry it.
On the day God chose Israel, Israel did not stand out. One writer measures them against the Egyptians they lived among.
The Lord showed them the only way of deliverance. Yet in themselves they were no better than the Egyptians. Imagine one of them resting his hope of safety from the coming judgment on belonging to God's favoured people. He would have been mourning and burying his firstborn, right alongside the Egyptians. And if they had trusted any goodness in themselves to escape the threatened judgment, nothing could ever have sheltered them from it. At that time they were idolaters who had flatly refused to put their idols away.
God does more than act in Egypt; He gives Israel His name there. That name carries a covenant behind it.
"JEHOVAH" is the title He takes as the Deliverer of His people, on the ground of His covenant of pure and sovereign grace. Under that name He reveals Himself as the great self-existing Source of redeeming love. He makes His purposes stand, keeps His promises, and delivers His chosen people from every enemy and every evil. Israel's privilege was to stay always under the safe covering of that rich title. The title shows God acting for His own glory. He takes up His oppressed people to display that glory in them.
God did not reveal Himself to Israel in secret. He did it "in the land of Egypt" — in front of an empire that worshipped other gods. From then on, His name and this people went together in public view.
In wonderful grace, God had committed Himself to bring His people out of the land that held them captive. The honour of His great Name was bound up with what He had said He would do. And God vindicated His Name when He poured out His judgments. They fell not on Israel, who deserved them as much as the Egyptians did, but on those who had taught His people to serve their idols. Those same people would not let Israel go to worship the living and true God.
- Chosen — on the day God picked Israel, they were idolaters, no better than the Egyptians around them. The choice rested on His grace, not their worth.
- Sworn — the lifted hand is an oath. God swore by Himself, because there was no one greater, so His purpose for Israel cannot change.
- Known — He made Himself known by name: "I am the LORD your God." That is a title of covenant relationship, not just of power.
- Watched — He revealed Himself in Egypt, in full view of the nations. From that day His honour has gone with whatever He does with this people.
- Judged — because the oath stands, He must deal with their sin instead of excusing it. That unchanging promise is why He recites the long, painful history of Ezekiel 20 at all.
in that day I lifted up my hand unto them, to bring them out of the land of Egypt into a land that I had espied for them, flowing with milk and honey, which is the ornament of all lands;
Elders of Israel come to Ezekiel in exile in Babylon, and God answers by telling them their own story from the start. It opens not with their sin but with His oath in Egypt, where He promised them a land He had already picked out for them.
God binds Himself here with an oath. One commentator notes how often He comes back to it:
See how often Jehovah reminds His people of His oath! He swore by Himself, since He could swear by no one greater. He wanted to show all the more how unchangeable His purpose is. The apostle says this of Israel in particular: the gifts and calling of God are not subject to change of mind. For this very reason He judges, and must judge, their ways. Otherwise He would have to approve or excuse sin.
God did not hand Israel whatever land was free. He searched this land out for them, and Scripture gives it title after title:
"The glorious land" (Dan. 11:16, 41); "the pleasant land" (Dan. 8:9); "the glory of all lands" (Ezek. 20:6, 15); "a land flowing with milk and honey" (Ex. 3:8); "a plentiful land" (Jer. 2:7); "a land which Jehovah your God cares for: the eyes of Jehovah your God are always upon it, from the beginning of the year, even to the end of the year" (Deut. 11:12). We need not be surprised at the language, for when God chooses for His people, He always chooses the best.
Its worth is not measured by its size. Another writer puts the point in terms of maps and history books:
Canaan, a little strip of land lying along the eastern coast of the Mediterranean, with an area of eleven thousand square miles — about a third of the size of Ireland — is the centre of God's geography; and the twelve tribes of Israel are the central object of God's history.
The phrase is not only poetry. It names what the land actually produced:
Jehovah had given the children of Israel "a land flowing with milk and honey." The milk came from well-fed flocks and herds, and the honey from rich plant growth.
Israel was still holding its idols when this promise came. They were not a better class of people rescued from a worse one:
The Lord showed them the only way of deliverance. Yet in themselves they were no better morally than the Egyptians. Suppose one of them had rested his hope of safety from the coming judgment on belonging to a favoured people. He would have been mourning and burying his firstborn on the fifteenth day of Nisan, along with the Egyptians. Suppose they had trusted some goodness in themselves to escape the threatened judgment. Then nothing could ever have sheltered them. They were idolaters at that time, and they had flatly refused to put their idols away.
Four times over, this chapter gives the reason God did not drop the plan He announced here:
Jehovah then recalls His ways with Israel, going back to their captivity in Egypt. He also looks forward to the day when, despite all they have been, He will bring them into the full blessing He had promised. The secret of God's goodness and patience lies in words He speaks four times: "But I acted for My Name's sake."
The oath is not left behind as a sad memory. Near the end of the chapter God repeats it as a promise He will still keep:
"And you shall know that I am Jehovah, when I bring you into the land of Israel, into the country for which I lifted up My hand to give it to your fathers." (Ver. 41-44) They will then be accepted and know Jehovah, and God will keep the promises made to the fathers. That will happen not only in us who now believe and go to heaven at Christ's coming, but in the children of Israel on the earth. They will repent at last, and their repentance will be real only because of His mercy. He acts freely above the evil of His creatures, for His own sake. If He did not, to be a sinner would mean ruin with no remedy and no hope.
- Oath. The lifted hand means God swore, and He swore by Himself, because there was no one greater to swear by.
- Choice. He did not hand them whatever land was free. He searched this one out, because when God chooses for His people He chooses the best.
- Gift. Milk and honey mean real plenty: well-fed flocks and rich plant growth. God keeps His eye on that land all year.
- Contrast. The people who received this promise were idolaters. They refused to drop their idols, and in themselves they were no better than the Egyptians.
- Reason. The promise held for His name's sake. The same lifted hand appears again at the chapter's end, as His pledge that He will yet bring them in.
and I said unto them, Cast ye away every man the abominations of his eyes, and defile not yourselves with the idols of Egypt I [am] Jehovah your God.
While Israel was still in Egypt, God told them to give up the gods of the land that held them. He gave one reason for the command: He was their God.
The chapter reaches a long way back. One writer marks where it starts, and what moved God to act at all:
Chapter 20 is important. The earlier chapters had spoken of the sin of Jerusalem. Here the Spirit retraces the sin of Israel, and above all their idolatry, from the time of their stay in Egypt. He means the people as a whole. Already then they had begun with their idolatry. For His own name's sake God brought them up from there.
So what were these idols? Egypt's worship used sacred animals as symbols of its gods. One reference work ties one of them to a sin Israel committed later:
They also had many sacred animals, from the cat to the crocodile, which they counted as symbols of their gods. The bull Apis represented the god Osiris. The Egyptians chose it with great care and guarded it closely. Some think the memory of this Apis is what led the Israelites to choose the form of a calf for their golden idol. And Ezekiel 20:6-8 tells us that Israel had fallen into idolatry while in Egypt.
God's judgments fell on Egypt's gods while Israel watched. One commentator shows what Israel did next, and what it revealed about them:
They were all defiled with the abominations of Egypt. God had warned them from the start to put these away. Yet His judgments fell on the gods of Egypt before their very eyes, and still they did not put them away. So in Egypt itself He threatened to pour out His wrath upon them. What an inside picture of the condition of things already in the people whom His grace was taking up! Yet He had taken them up, and He still worked for His name's sake, so that His name would not be dishonoured before the nations where they lived.
The verse ends with a statement about God, not an argument about idols. One writer explains why those few words were reason enough:
"I am the LORD your God." This was to be the ground of their conduct. They were to act in a way worthy of the One who had become their God and made them His people. It was not that they were one bit better than other people. Not at all. The Egyptians or Canaanites might have thought the Israelites were setting themselves up as something superior by refusing to adopt the habits of either nation. But no; the foundation of their distinct line of conduct and tone of morality was laid in these words, "I am the Lord your God."
Israel could not worship God where they were. One writer explains what that says about Egypt:
What a character this simple fact gives to Egypt, or the world! God had no sanctuary there. The thoughts and ways of that land were so opposed to Him that He could not set His name among them. His people had to go out before they could open His temple or raise His altar. The very things Israel would sacrifice, Egypt was in the habit of worshipping. So Israel had to be separated from Egypt before they could hold their feast to the Lord.
The command names what the eyes had fastened on. The same pull works today without any statue at all:
The thoughts of men shape the natural heart. It loves, adores and worships the objects it finds in this world; and each heart has its own idol. One worships gold, another worships pleasure, another worships power. Every unconverted man is an idolater. Even converted men are not out of reach of idolatrous influences. The aged apostle made that clear when he warned, "Little children, keep yourselves from idols" (1 John 5:21).
- Egypt first. God traces the nation's failure back past Jerusalem to its first days. The idolatry was already there.
- Eyes first. God told them to throw away what their eyes had grown fond of — Egypt's animal gods, later copied in the golden calf.
- Evidence first. God's judgments had fallen on those very gods in plain sight. Still Israel kept the idols.
- God first. God gives one reason for the command: He is their God. Israel was no better than Egypt or Canaan.
- Separation first. Egypt worshipped what Israel would sacrifice. So the idols had to go before Israel could hold the feast to the Lord — and every heart still has an idol of its own.
But they rebelled against me, and would not hearken unto me none of them cast away the abominations of his eyes, neither did they forsake the idols of Egypt. Then I thought to pour out my fury upon them, so as to accomplish mine anger against them in the midst of the land of Egypt.
The elders of Israel came to Ezekiel with a question for God, and God answered with their own family history — starting back in Egypt, before the exodus. Verse 8 is the shock in that story: as God prepared to rescue His people, they were clinging to the gods He was about to judge.
The chapter opens with a question God will not answer. Their hearts were not in it. So He sends the prophet back to where the trouble began.
He who searches the deepest thoughts and the heart saw that there was no exercise of conscience before Him. Why answer where there is only hollowness and hypocrisy? ... At the same time He is pleased to justify His ways. If the prophet would plead for them (or call them to account), God directs him to set their fathers' abominations before them. So God goes to the source of the trouble, and the people must judge the evil not only in what it produced, but in where it started.
This was not ignorance. God had already shown what He thought of Egypt's gods, and His people watched Him do it — and still would not let go.
But they were all defiled with the abominations of Egypt, and God had warned them from the start that they must put these away. His judgments on the gods of Egypt were before their very eyes, and still they had not put them away. So in Egypt itself He had threatened to pour out His wrath upon them. What a picture of what was already inside the people whom His grace was taking up!
Israel was not rescued because Israel was better than Egypt.
If they had trusted in some goodness of their own to escape the threatened judgment, they could never have been sheltered from it. They were idolaters at that time, and they had refused outright to put their idols away. (Ezek. 20:6-10; Joshua 24:14.) So God showed both His faithfulness and His grace on that night, a night long to be remembered (Ex. 12:42). His faithfulness kept His word to Abraham by judging their oppressors. His grace dealt with Israel by sheltering them from the sword of the angel of death.
Their guilt was heavier than Egypt's, because of what God had given them — and they did not feel it.
They were worse than the Egyptians; they had the promises of God (Gen. 15), and were worshipping the idols of Egypt. But they did not feel their sin against God. They groaned under their taskmasters, and sighed because of their slavery.
The threat in verse 8 is real and deserved. The next verse tells us why it never fell.
God was right to be angry with His people, and He threatened to pour out His fury upon them (verse 8). Then we learn the great secret of God's patience and mercy: "But I acted for My Name's sake, so that it would not be profaned among the nations where they were living. Those nations had seen Me make Myself known to Israel, when I brought them out of the land of Egypt" (verse 9).
The fury did not vanish. God turned it elsewhere, and that too guarded the honour of His Name.
And God vindicated His Name when He poured out His judgments. They fell not on Israel, who deserved them as much as the Egyptians did, but on those who had taught His people to serve their idols, and who would not let them go to worship the living and true God.
Verse 8 sets a pattern the rest of the chapter repeats. What they kept in Egypt travelled with them.
Idolatry was no new evil among God's favoured but faithless people Israel. Ezekiel 20 traces their whole course in this respect in much detail. In Egypt, before the deliverance, they worshipped the gods around them (verse 8). They worshipped idols in the wilderness, though perhaps in secret (verse 13), and they worshipped idols in the land (verse 28).
Why did it keep repeating?
The root of their idolatrous course was that they had never in heart made a clean break from Egypt.
- Source. God refuses a hollow question. He points to where the evil began, back in Egypt — not to its effects, but to its source.
- Guilt. They sinned while God's judgments on Egypt's gods stood in plain view. That left them worse than the Egyptians, because they held the promises.
- Grace. Their rescue rested on God's word to Abraham and on sheer grace. If they had leaned on any goodness of their own, the sword would have fallen on them too.
- Name. They deserved the fury, and God threatened it. He held it back for His Name's sake, and poured it out instead on those who taught His people idolatry.
- Pattern. What they refused to cast away in Egypt showed up again in the wilderness and in the land. In heart they had never made a clean break.
But I wrought for my name's sake, that it should not be profaned in the sight of the nations among whom they were, in whose sight I had made myself known unto them in bringing them forth out of the land of Egypt.
Ezekiel is speaking to the elders of Israel, exiled in Babylon. God answers them by retelling the nation's story from the start. It begins with idolatry in Egypt that deserved His fury. Verse 9 gives the reason the threatened fury never fell, and it is not a reason found in Israel at all.
The people God rescued were not innocent victims. One writer is blunt about what they actually were.
Though the Lord made known to them the only way of deliverance, they were in themselves no better morally than the Egyptians... If they had trusted in some goodness of their own to escape the judgment God had threatened, they could never have been sheltered from it. At that time they were idolaters who had flatly refused to put their idols away.
If Israel deserved what Egypt got, why did the plagues fall on one and not the other? God had already staked His own name on a promise He had made.
In wonderful grace, God had committed Himself to bring His people out of the land where they were held captive. The honour of His great Name was tied to what He had said He would do. And God vindicated His Name when He poured out His judgments. They fell not on Israel, who deserved them as much as the Egyptians, but on those who had taught His people to serve their idols and would not let them go to worship the living and true God.
The chapter returns again and again to an oath God swore. One writer marks the weight of that repetition — and then its other side.
See how strikingly Jehovah keeps reminding His people of His oath! He swore by Himself, since He could swear by no one greater, wanting to show all the more clearly that His purpose cannot change. It is of Israel in particular that the apostle says the gifts and calling of God are not subject to change of mind. For this very reason He judges and must judge their ways.
Verse 9 starts a pattern that runs through the whole chapter. God reviews the nation's record from its birth in Egypt, and the verdict never changes.
God had shown them constant grace. They constantly resisted it, and so made it ineffective. Still the purpose of that grace abides, as we see in the end here. God would not leave His gracious purpose to end in failure, whatever may be man's sin against it.
One writer finds the whole explanation in a phrase the chapter repeats:
The secret of God's goodness and long-suffering is found in the words, four times spoken, "But I acted for the sake of My Name."
The same reason appears again later in Ezekiel. Israel had shamed God's name among the nations. His answer was pity — not for them, but for His name.
He is Jehovah and He does not change; that is why they were not destroyed. Instead, He had pity for the name they had insulted, and He would sanctify it and be sanctified in them. As He says here... "I do not do this for your sakes, O house of Israel, but for the sake of my holy name, which you have profaned among the nations to which you came."
One writer applies the same phrase to believers today.
In sovereign goodness He has blessed us. It was not because of anything in ourselves, or anything we have done. We were only sinners, cut off from God, and enemies by our wicked works. We know that He has forgiven our sins, and as it is written in 1 John 2:12, it is "for His Name's sake."
It also changes how we pray.
Not our need, great as it may be, not even repentance heartfelt and true, but the glory of God, the honour of His name... When we pray, after bringing our requests and asking a Father's forgiveness, do we really grasp what "for the sake of" or "in the name of Jesus Christ" means? Is it just a closing formula in our minds?
- Guilt — Israel in Egypt were idolaters who refused to give up their idols. They deserved judgment as much as the Egyptians did.
- Motive — God held back His fury for His name's sake. His honour was tied to the rescue He had promised.
- Oath — He had sworn by Himself, so His purpose cannot change. That same purpose is why He must still judge their ways.
- Pattern — The phrase returns four times in the chapter: grace given, grace resisted, purpose still standing.
- Ourselves — Our sins are forgiven "for His name's sake" too. So the real plea in prayer is His honour, not our need.
And I caused them to go forth out of the land of Egypt, and brought them into the wilderness.
In Ezekiel 20, elders of Israel sit down before the prophet to ask God a question. God answers instead with a long look back over the nation's whole history. Verse 10 is the hinge of that retelling. God has finished the rescue from Egypt, and a new stage begins — not the land yet, but the desert.
The men who came looked serious enough. But God saw what was behind the visit and refused to answer them.
He who searches the heart and the mind saw that their consciences were not at work before Him. Why answer where there is only hollowness and hypocrisy? At the same time He is pleased to justify His ways. If the prophet would plead for them, God directs him to set their fathers' abominations before them. God goes to the root of the trouble. The people must judge the evil not just in its effects but at its source.
The order in the verse matters: out of Egypt first, then into the wilderness.
He does not bring us into the desert until we are out of Egypt. Until Christ has met God for us, we are not brought into the desert at all. We have trials and exercises there, but it is redemption that brings us into it; our path flows from that. Redemption was at the beginning, Canaan at the end. The wilderness comes between the two. Through the wilderness we have God with us, and for us, not imputing anything to us, but exercising our hearts.
The verses that follow list what came with the desert: statutes, rules, and sabbaths.
He does not speak here of the miracles He worked for them, but of the statutes and judgments He had given them, which pointed to the way of life. His sabbaths were the seal upon all these, a sign between God and them of the rest which He designed for them. He was not a hard taskmaster, but their gracious Deliverer.
Those statutes promised life to anyone who kept them. At Sinai the people took that promise on themselves.
While in Egypt, and until Israel undertook to keep the law, God had dealt with His people in grace. But at the foot of Sinai they bound themselves in a covenant of blood to keep all the commandments of the law. They did not realise how powerless and sinful they were. If they had kept the law, they would have lived. But in breaking the law they brought themselves under the curse attached to it. The law they could not keep laid bare their ignorance of themselves and their self-will.
The move out of Egypt changed their address, not their hearts.
When out of Egypt, Israel was no better than when in it; in fact their evil became more obvious and less excusable. They were alone in the wilderness with Jehovah, yet they sought false gods. They had His statutes and ordinances, yet they did not walk by them but despised them. They had His sabbaths as a sign between Him and them, yet they treated them as worthless. So Jehovah was again provoked to destroy Israel in the desert as before in Egypt. They sinned against His own name with pride and persistence, yet that name was their shelter and defence.
God had every reason to destroy them in the desert. One writer points to the phrase that explains why He did not.
The words spoken four times hold the secret of God's goodness and patience: "But I acted for the sake of My name."
This is not only past history. Later in the chapter God speaks of a wilderness still to come.
With them God will rehearse the history of the chosen nation. He will gather them out from the peoples and countries where they are still scattered. He will not do this by quiet, moral or evangelistic means, but with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm. Then He will bring them into the wilderness of the peoples and hold judgment over them face to face, as of old with their fathers. It is sovereign grace, but reigning through righteousness.
- Brought out. Redemption comes first. God brings into the wilderness only the people He has already led out of Egypt.
- Given. In that desert He gave them statutes, rules and sabbaths. These were not the demands of a hard taskmaster, but the gifts of their Deliverer, pointing to life and rest.
- Exposed. Out of Egypt they proved no better than in it. Being alone with God only made their idolatry plainer and less excusable.
- Spared. Their record did not save them from destruction. His name did — the reason God repeats four times in this chapter.
- Regathered. God promises to lead them into a wilderness once more. There He will deal with them face to face: sovereign grace, reigning through righteousness.
And I gave them my statutes, and made known unto them mine ordinances, which if a man do, he shall live by them.
In Ezekiel 20 God looks back over His dealings with Israel. He had brought them out of Egypt; now, in the wilderness, He gives them His statutes and rules, with a promise attached to doing them.
The order matters. God did not set terms and then rescue; He rescued, and then spoke.
The Lord delivered His people out of Egypt and brought them to Himself in the wilderness. Then He said, "I gave them my statutes and made known to them my rules, by which, if a person does them, he shall live." While in Egypt, and until Israel undertook to keep the law, God had dealt with His people in grace. But at Sinai they bound themselves in a covenant of blood to keep every commandment of the law. They did not realise how helpless and sinful they were. Had they kept the law, they would have lived; in breaking it they brought themselves under the curse attached to it.
What life did the promise offer? One writer answers from the same words in Leviticus:
"You shall therefore keep my statutes and my rules; if a person does them, he shall live by them" (Lev. 18:5). It spoke of life on earth, not of getting to heaven. Neither did the law speak of faith. The dispensation was one of works, not of faith. So the law turned man's attention to himself and to his works, and to the blessing or curse that followed his obedience or disobedience. It did not occupy him with God.
Everything turns on that one small word. The promise was real. Who could meet it?
Here again are the two great principles of paradise: responsibility and life. But life now depended on man meeting his responsibility: "Do this, and you will live." If a man kept God's commandments, he would live. But, as Paul says, "The very commandment that promised life proved to be death to me." And again, "If a law had been given that could give life, then righteousness would indeed be by the law." But no such law was given.
The same words work the other way round. They prove a condition no one escapes:
It says, "The one who does them shall live by them." Take a man who truly does these things, fully according to God. Could he be under the sentence of death at all? How could God put such a sentence on one who is altogether according to His mind? Yet all men are under the sentence of death. That undeniable fact is what makes the law a true and full test of man's condition. It shows he cannot stand before God in judgment.
The verse does not stand alone. Ezekiel's record moves straight on to what Israel did with these statutes:
When out of Egypt, Israel was no better than when in it; yes, their evil became more evident and less excusable. They were alone in the wilderness with Jehovah, yet they sought false gods. They had His statutes and ordinances, yet they despised them and did not walk in them. They had His sabbaths as a sign between Him and them, yet they greatly profaned them.
The promise is not empty. One writer finds a second sense in which the words still stand:
Sin is in everyone, so the legal covenant had no life in it. Yet there is another sense in which the words "if a person does them, he shall live" are to be understood. There is really a path of life, though grace alone can put us in it or keep us there. Eternal life and disobedience are in fact opposites. The gospel does not alter this: grace fully affirms it: "For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace."
What Israel could not do, God promises to do Himself — by changing the people:
"And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules." He will give them a new heart and a new spirit. He will take away the heart of stone and give a heart of flesh. He will put His Spirit within them, and make them walk in holy obedience. They will be His people, and He their God.
- Rescued first. God brought them out of Egypt in grace; only then did He give statutes. Obedience was never the price of deliverance.
- Life offered. The promise was genuine. But it spoke of life on earth, not of getting to heaven, and it said nothing of faith.
- Condition unmet. The promise hung on man's doing. The whole race lies under the sentence of death, which shows the doing was never there.
- Gift refused. Israel had the statutes, the judgments and the sabbaths in the wilderness. They despised all three, which left them with less excuse, not more.
- Life given. The path of life is real, but grace alone puts a person on it. God's final answer is a new heart and His Spirit, so that His people walk in His statutes.
And I also gave them my sabbaths, to be a sign between me and them, that they might know that I [am] Jehovah that hallow them.
In Ezekiel 20 God answers the elders of Israel with their own history, tracing His dealings with them from Egypt onward. Verse 12 sits inside that account: God gave His sabbaths to a people He had redeemed, so they would know Him as the One who sets them apart.
The chapter traces Israel's sin back to Egypt.
Here the Spirit retraces the sin, and especially the idolatry, of Israel as a nation, from the time they lived in Egypt. Even then they had begun with their idolatry. For His own name's sake God brought them up from there. He gave them His statutes and His sabbaths — the sabbaths also as a token of the covenant between God and the people.
The sabbath did more than give tired people a day off.
As well as being a kindness in itself to hard-working people, the Lord gave His sabbath to Israel as a sign between Him and them, a mark of God's people. The law never set up anything new — the tabernacle, the manna, or other special things — without pressing the sabbath again. It was a sign of their being God's people, though in fact they never entered into God's rest, any more than Adam did. There still remains a rest. But that has ceased: they are no longer God's people, except in promise for the future, when they will have their rest by grace.
Why was this day fit to carry such weight?
The Sabbath was a "sign," and it was fitted for that purpose in every way. As Exodus first gives it, it is a memorial of God's rest as the Creator, satisfied with the goodness of all His hands had made. In Deuteronomy God commands them to keep it as a people redeemed from slavery in Egypt, and here too the loss of it would be very serious. As the sign of a people set apart to God, they had often accepted all kinds of injury rather than break it themselves.
The word "between" is limiting. A mark that everyone carries marks nobody.
God never gave the sabbath to the Gentile as such, whatever the reasonings of men may be. If a Gentile came and put himself under the wing of Israel, of course he kept the sabbath; but as a Gentile he had nothing to do with it. The sabbath was the Lord's sign to Israel. To argue that God laid it on everyone alike denies that fact in principle, and denies the scripture that states it. How could it be a sign to one if it was the common duty of all?
The verse ends with a word worth defining.
The simple meaning of sanctification is setting apart. We may recall that God sanctified the seventh day, the Sabbath. He ordained it to be a day of rest. It was not a question of making the seventh day holy, for sin had not come into the world.
Notice who does the sanctifying here. Israel could not do it for themselves.
It is true that the sabbath rest set up for man bore no fruit for him. Sin, into which he had fallen, kept him from enjoying it. And unless God stepped in with sovereign goodness, communion with Him was now impossible for man. For communion is based on holiness. So we read, "God blessed the seventh day and made it holy." Therefore, to give His people the enjoyment of the forfeited sabbath, God must take their sanctification upon Himself.
The verses that follow show what Israel did with the sign.
When out of Egypt, Israel was no better than when in it; their evil became more obvious and less excusable. They were alone in the wilderness with the Lord, yet they sought false gods. They had His statutes and ordinances, yet they did not walk by them but despised them. They had His sabbaths as a sign between Him and them, yet they profaned them badly. They sinned against His own name so proudly and so persistently, yet that name was their shelter and defence.
So what became of the sign after Christ came?
These sabbaths could not go on being kept as a Jewish sabbath under the commandments. Once Christ was crucified, God no longer sanctified the Jewish people. The Lord showed this beforehand, again and again during His ministry, by the way He acted and spoke on the sabbath days.
- Given — God handed the sabbath to Israel, along with His statutes, after He brought them out of Egypt.
- Sign — It marked Israel as His own, a token of the covenant between the Lord and them. God never laid it on the nations.
- Sanctify — To sanctify is to set apart. God claims that work as His own, because a people who had forfeited rest could never make it for themselves.
- Polluted — Israel profaned the very sign of God's nearness. Only His care for His own name stood between them and destruction.
- Rest — The sign pointed to God's rest, which Israel never entered. Commentators link its end to the cross, yet a rest still remains, promised for the future by grace.
But the house of Israel rebelled against me in the wilderness they walked not in my statutes, and they rejected mine ordinances, which if a man do, he shall live by them; and my sabbaths they greatly profaned and I said I would pour out my fury upon them in the wilderness, to consume them.
Israel's elders came to Ezekiel for a word from God, and God answered with their own family history instead. Verse 13 is its wilderness chapter: a rescued people receive God's statutes and sabbaths, break both, and still escape destruction.
God would not give them a fresh message. One commentator explains why, and why God sent them back to their fathers instead.
He who searches the mind and the heart saw that there was no exercise of conscience before Him. Why answer where there is only hollowness and hypocrisy? Such trifling was beneath Him, and He would allow it no longer. "As I live, I will not let you enquire of Me any longer." At the same time He is pleased to justify His ways. If the prophet is to plead for them or take them to task, God directs him to set before them the detestable things their fathers did. So God goes to the source of the trouble, and the people must judge the evil not just in its effects but where it starts.
Israel left Egypt behind, but not their idols.
When out of Egypt, Israel was no better than when in it; in fact, their evil became more evident and less excusable. They were alone with Jehovah in the wilderness, yet they sought false gods. They had His statutes and ordinances, yet they did not follow them but despised them. They had His sabbaths as a sign between Him and them, yet they badly profaned them. So Jehovah was again provoked to destroy Israel in the desert, as He had been in Egypt. His own name, against which they sinned so proudly and stubbornly, was their shelter and defence.
One writer sets their rebellion beside what God went on doing for them:
They continued in stubbornness and rebellion and became idolaters. But oh, the mercy of God! He continued to feed them and gave them water.
The statutes they despised came with a promise of life for the one who kept them. Israel's trouble began with what they promised at Sinai.
While in Egypt, and until Israel undertook to keep the law, God had dealt with His people in grace. But at the foot of Sinai they bound themselves in a covenant of blood to keep every commandment of the law, not realising how helpless and sinful they were. Had they kept the law, they would have lived. By breaking it they brought themselves under its curse. The law they could not keep exposed their self-will and their ignorance of themselves.
Yet there is a sense in which those words still stand today:
Man lives by the word of God — in obedience to it… Because sin is in everyone, the legal covenant had no life in it. Yet there is another sense in which "if a person does them, he shall live" is to be understood. There really is a path of life, though grace alone can put us in it or keep us there. Eternal life and disobedience are opposites. The gospel does not change this: grace fully affirms it.
The sabbath mattered because of what it stood for.
The sabbath was a lasting sign that Jehovah had set that people apart for Himself. No other nation kept it as Israel was told to keep it. So Jehovah says to the sons of Israel, without mentioning the other nine commandments at all, "You shall keep my Sabbaths, for it is a sign between me and you throughout your generations, that you may know that I am the LORD who sanctifies you." It was to be a perpetual covenant, a sign for ever (Ex. 31:12-17). Long afterwards Ezekiel the priest points back to this sign, when God charges Israel with polluting the sabbaths and so walking in the ways of the nations.
The sign was also an offer, not a burden:
His sabbaths were the seal upon all these, a sign between God and them of the rest which He designed for them. He was not a hard taskmaster, but their gracious Deliverer. He would always point them to that rest — for themselves and even for the cattle with them. It was a reminder of the rest God took at creation, when He was satisfied with the perfect goodness of all He had made.
The threat was real. What held it back was not anything in Israel.
In His counsels of grace, the honour of Jehovah's Name was tied to the blessing of His people. Not even the wickedness of Israel could turn Him from what He had purposed and set His hand to do. In mercy He withdraws the hand He had lifted in judgment. He considers what their enemies would make of the destruction of His people. But He is not only merciful, He is also righteous. Because of their rebellion He said, "I also swore to them in the wilderness that I would scatter them among the nations."
- Gift. God gave statutes that promised life to anyone who kept them. He gave sabbaths as the sign that He was setting Israel apart for Himself.
- Guilt. In the wilderness they had His word, His sign and His presence. They chased other gods anyway, so their sin had less excuse than in Egypt.
- Exposure. At Sinai they promised to keep the whole law. The law they could not keep exposed their self-will and brought a curse instead of life.
- Restraint. They deserved the fury, and God held it back. His own Name, not their record, stood between them and destruction.
- Discipline. Mercy spared them; righteousness still scattered them. The Name that shelters also corrects.
But I wrought for my name's sake, that it should not be profaned in the sight of the nations, in whose sight I had brought them out.
In Ezekiel 20 God retraces His whole history with Israel, starting back in Egypt. Verse 14 gives His reason for not destroying them in the desert: the honour of His own name in front of the watching nations.
The verse before this one is a threat to destroy Israel. Leaving Egypt had not made them any better.
When out of Egypt, Israel was no better than when in it; in fact their evil became more evident and less excusable. They were alone in the wilderness with Jehovah, yet they sought false gods. They had His statutes and ordinances, yet they did not walk by them but despised them. They had His sabbaths as a sign between Him and them, yet they deeply profaned them. So Jehovah was again provoked to destroy Israel in the desert, as He had been in Egypt. Their shelter and defence was His own name — the very name they sinned against so proudly and so persistently.
Why would God's name be a reason to spare rebels?
Immediate destruction is the work of justice. Full and final preservation is the glorious and vital work of divine grace — grace reigning through righteousness. If God had dealt with the people in mere justice, He would not have declared His name. There is far more in His name than justice. There is love, mercy, goodness, kindness, long-suffering, deep and unfailing compassion. But no one could have seen any of this if He had destroyed the people in a moment. Then the name of Jehovah would not have been declared or glorified.
The nations "in whose sight" He acted had watched Israel leave Egypt. Moses had already prayed on that very ground.
Moses knew the heart of Jehovah when he interceded for Israel, saying, "O LORD, why does your wrath burn hot against your people… Why should the Egyptians say, 'With evil intent did he bring them out, to kill them in the mountains and to consume them from the face of the earth'? Turn from your burning anger and relent from this disaster against your people."
This is not God guarding a reputation apart from His people.
God is not simply glorious and bound to maintain His glory. He has taken a people on the earth, and He has tied His glory to that people. Faith feels this, with a deep and thankful sense of it, and counts on deliverance and grace. God delivers, and so secures His own glory.
Moses pleaded and God relented. But the weight in the plea was not the pleader.
How delightful the intercession of Moses must have been to the Lord, for His faithful servant spoke exactly what was in His own heart. Moses' thoughts and words mirrored God's own thoughts and compassions. God listens to His servant, and his pleadings turn God from the fierceness of His wrath. Yet no amount of intercession could have turned away God's wrath if He had not cared about the honour of His great Name.
Mercy in verse 14 did not cancel God's government. So what became of that generation?
So God forgave Israel, and acted for His Name's sake. But there was also the righteous government of God, which He speaks about to Ezekiel… The way He governed the rebellious proved His Name as a merciful God, for that generation died off little by little in the wilderness.
The same reason shapes the whole chapter, not just this verse.
Here the Spirit retraces the sin, and especially the idolatry of Israel as a people, from the time of their stay in Egypt. Even then they had begun with their idolatry. For His own name's sake God brought them up from there, and gave them His statutes and His sabbaths… But Israel rebelled against God in the wilderness, and even then He had thought to destroy them… Still, for His name's sake, God withdrew His hand because of the nations who had watched Him bring the people up from Egypt.
The same phrase reaches past Israel:
We know that He has forgiven our sins, and as 1 John 2:12 says, it is "for His name's sake." We owe every blessing we already enjoy, and everything that awaits us in the coming day, to the sovereign love of God.
- Cause. Out of Egypt, Israel was no better than in it. They had His statutes and His sabbaths, and despised both.
- Shelter. The very name they sinned against became their shelter. Justice alone would have destroyed them in a moment and never shown the love, mercy and long-suffering in that name.
- Witnesses. He held back because of who was watching. The nations had seen Him bring Israel out, and would have said He led them out only to kill them.
- Limit. Sparing was not excusing. That same generation still died off little by little in the wilderness under God's government.
- Reach. The same reason runs on past Israel. God forgives believers today "for His name's sake" too.
And I also lifted up my hand unto them in the wilderness, that I would not bring them into the land that I had given [them], flowing with milk and honey, which is the ornament of all lands;
In this chapter God retells Israel's own history — Egypt, the wilderness, the land. Here He swears that the generation He rescued will never set foot in the land He had promised them. How can a God who keeps His promises also swear to withhold them?
The chapter traces a people whose sin grew worse, not better, once they were out of Egypt. One writer sets the failure of verse 15 against everything God had just given them.
When out of Egypt, Israel was no better than when in it; indeed, their evil became more obvious and less excusable. They were alone in the wilderness with Jehovah, yet they sought false gods. They had His statutes and ordinances, yet they did not walk by them but despised them. They had His sabbaths as a sign between Him and them, yet they profaned them badly. So Jehovah was again provoked to destroy Israel in the desert, as He had been in Egypt. His own name was their shelter and defence — the very name they sinned against so proudly and stubbornly.
Where the ESV says God swore, older translations read "I lifted up my hand" — the gesture of taking an oath. The same writer notes how often God returns to that oath.
See how often Jehovah reminds His people of His oath! He swore by Himself, since He could swear by no one greater. In this way He wanted to show more fully that His purpose never changes. It is of Israel in particular that the apostle declares the gifts and calling of God are not subject to a change of mind. For this very reason He judges, and must judge, their ways. Otherwise He would have to approve or excuse sin.
The same hand that swore to give the land now swears to keep a rebellious generation out of it.
A mercy follows the sentence at once: God did not finish them off. One writer holds both sides together.
So God forgave Israel, and worked for His Name's sake. But there was also the righteous government of God, which He speaks of to Ezekiel: "Nevertheless, my eye spared them, and I did not destroy them or make a full end of them in the wilderness." His government of the rebellious proved that His Name is the Name of a merciful God, for that generation died off little by little in the wilderness.
God pardoned the nation, and the nation still died outside the land.
The same writer gives the words of the sentence itself, and what God added about the children.
He pronounced His sentence: "Your dead bodies shall fall in this wilderness." Then He added: "But your little ones, who you said would become a prey, I will bring in, and they shall know the land that you have rejected." These "little ones" are the ones Jehovah speaks of in Ezekiel 20:18: "And I said to their children in the wilderness, Do not walk in the statutes of your fathers, nor keep their rules, nor defile yourselves with their idols."
Israel despised the land the verse calls the most glorious of all lands. One writer reads God's refusal as a warning for believers today, and marks where the two cases differ.
"And with whom was He provoked for forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose bodies fell in the wilderness?" Patience bore long through this time of testing. But they had despised the land of promise, and so they died in the wilderness. This is a solemn thought for those who today think little of the heavenly glory of the Lord Jesus Christ and the heavenly calling of His saints. But we must be clear. In the wilderness the issue was only an inheritance on earth and blessings for this life, not the heavenly inheritance and eternal blessings.
The oath shut out one generation. It did not cancel what God had promised to the fathers.
God will then accept them, and they will know Jehovah. The promises to the fathers will be kept — not only in us who now believe and go to heaven at Christ's coming, but in the children of Israel on the earth. They will repent then, and their repentance is real only because of the mercy of Him who acts freely above the evil of His creatures, for His own sake. If He did not act so, to be a sinner would mean ruin beyond remedy or hope.
- Raised to give. The lifted hand is God's oath. He swore by Himself, because there was no one greater, and first raised that hand to give Israel the land.
- Raised to withhold. The same hand swore the opposite. Israel had His statutes, His sabbaths and His presence, and despised all three.
- Held back. The hand that could have destroyed them spared them. They died off in the desert little by little, not at a stroke.
- Raised over the children. The generation fell, but God brought in the little ones they had said would be taken as prey.
- Raised again. The oath barred one generation, not the promise. God will still keep His word to the fathers, for His own name's sake.
because they rejected mine ordinances and walked not in my statutes, and profaned my sabbaths for their heart went after their idols.
Ezekiel 20 is God's review of Israel's whole history. Verse 16 gives the verdict on the generation that died in the desert. It shows why they never reached the land. The verse names three failures of conduct. Under them lies one failure of affection: the heart had gone after idols.
God brought Israel out of Egypt. He gave them His statutes and His Sabbaths. They still looked elsewhere, and that made their evil less excusable:
When out of Egypt, Israel was no better than when in it; in fact, their evil became more obvious and less excusable. They were alone in the wilderness with Jehovah, yet they sought false gods. They had His statutes and ordinances, yet they did not walk by them but despised them. They had His Sabbaths as a sign between Him and them, yet they greatly profaned them. So once again Israel provoked Jehovah to destroy them in the desert, as they had in Egypt.
The verse lists three outward things, then names the root: the heart. For these people, the problem was never a lack of evidence.
God had been ready to bring that generation into the land He had promised them. But He could not. Their hearts were still after the idols they had watched Him strike down blow after blow. What use is a convinced mind when the heart has chosen to wander!
God had shown them miracle after miracle. Yet the charge here is about something else He gave them:
He does not speak here of these miracles, but of the statutes and judgments He had given them, which pointed to the way of life. His Sabbaths were the seal on all of these, a sign between God and them of the rest He intended for them. He was not a hard taskmaster, but their gracious Deliverer. He kept pointing them to that rest — a rest for themselves and even for their cattle. It was the memorial of the creation rest, when God rested Himself, satisfied with the perfect goodness of everything He had made.
Of all the ten commandments, this is the one Ezekiel keeps coming back to. The Sabbath did a job the other nine did not do:
They turned their hearts away from Jehovah. They did as they pleased on His holy day, and so profaned His Sabbaths. Scripture declares the Sabbath to be a particular sign of God's covenant with His people. It became a broad, distinctive mark between them and every other nation. Other nations might recognise, to some degree, the great moral landmarks set out on the tablets of stone — no murder, no lust, and so on. But the Sabbath was a lasting sign that Jehovah had separated that people to Himself. Other nations did not keep it as Israel had to keep it. So Jehovah says to the sons of Israel, without mentioning the other nine commandments at all, "You shall keep my Sabbaths, for this is a sign between me and you throughout your generations, that you may know that I, the LORD, sanctify you."
The next generation did no better than their parents. So what kept judgment back?
Jehovah felt compassion for them. Yet He had to assert His authority, the rightness of His judgments, and the special value of His Sabbaths as something between Him and them. It was in vain! The children in the wilderness were as bad as their fathers who fell. Only one thing stood between Israel and destruction: His own care for the name they were profaning.
A reader who owns no carved image may think this verse cannot touch him. But the test is what holds the affections, not what stands in a shrine.
Someone may say, What is an idol? I will not try to define it. But I am sure I can say this: an idol is whatever creeps into the affections and takes over that unique place in the heart which belongs to God alone.
- Gift — God gave statutes that pointed to the way of life, and Sabbaths as their seal. He came as a gracious Deliverer, not a hard taskmaster.
- Sign — the Sabbath was not one rule among ten. It was the mark that Jehovah had set this nation apart for Himself, and they spoiled it.
- Heart — the three failures trace back to one cause. The heart had already gone after idols, and a convinced mind cannot save a heart that has chosen to wander.
- Verdict — nearness made the sin worse, not lighter. Alone in the wilderness with God, they still sought false gods. That generation never entered the land.
- Mercy — only God's concern for His own name kept Israel from destruction. Nothing had changed in their hearts, or in their children's.
But mine eye spared them so as not to destroy them, neither did I make a full end of them in the wilderness.
In this chapter God retraces Israel's story, from the day He brought them out of Egypt to their rebellion in the wilderness. Here He says He held back from wiping them out — so how can a sentence of death and an act of sparing come from the same God?
One writer traces the steps that led to this moment:
For His own name's sake God had brought them up from Egypt, and given them His statutes and His sabbaths — the sabbaths also as a sign of the covenant between God and the people. But Israel had rebelled against God in the wilderness, and even then He had thought to destroy them. But He spared them, and He warned their children too, who still followed their fathers' ways.
Mercy and judgment are not in conflict here. Both belong to the way God governs a rebellious people:
So God forgave Israel, and acted for His Name's sake. But there was also the righteous government of God, which He describes to Ezekiel… His government of the rebellious vindicated His Name as a merciful God, for that generation died off little by little in the wilderness.
So the sparing did not cancel the sentence. That generation still died in the desert. God simply did not end the nation there.
What held the blow back was not any improvement in the people. The next generation was no better than the last:
Jehovah felt compassion for them. But He had to assert His authority, the rightness of His judgments, and the special value of His sabbaths, as between Him and them. It was all in vain! The children in the wilderness were as bad as their fathers who fell. Nothing but His own care for the name they profaned stood between Israel and destruction.
Love had another reason to hold back:
God's eye had spared them, so as not to destroy them or make a full end of them in the wilderness. Once again He took their children by the hand, telling them not to walk in their fathers' statutes, and not to defile themselves with their idols, for He was Jehovah their God. But they answered as before… Even before they reached the land, He had to threaten them again with the wrath that love and pity held back. They were to be the bearers of His name before the nations. How could He destroy the only thing that remained as a witness at all?
God ties His own honour to His people, and that cuts both ways. His name rests on them, so He will not destroy them — and for the same reason He will not ignore their sin:
God delivers and secures His own glory. But for the very same reason God allows no evil, because His name is connected with His people, as we see in Israel: "You only have I known of all the families of the earth; therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities."
Falling under God's discipline on the road is a different matter from being lost. One writer points to the men who died in the desert and yet belonged to God:
But their falling in the wilderness had nothing to do with the saving of their souls: Moses and Aaron died in the wilderness too, and we know they were saints of Jehovah.
The sparing is not only past history. The same chapter looks ahead to a future gathering on the same principle:
They had rebelled on their road to that land in the wilderness. Despite all His grace they had polluted themselves, and God determined to scatter them among the nations. But God would fulfil all His purposes, and would yet re-gather them… As He pleaded with their fathers, and purged them in the wilderness, so would He yet do to the returning house of Israel.
- Cause — rebellion. Israel rebelled in the wilderness, and their children walked the same way.
- Restraint — His name. Nothing in the people held back the blow. God's own care for the name they were profaning stood between Israel and destruction.
- Reason — the witness. Love and pity spared a people who were to carry His name before the nations. Destroying them would have left no witness at all.
- Balance — mercy inside government. The sentence still ran, and that generation died in the desert. But God's mercy kept Him from making a full end of them.
- Result — purging, not ending. He pleaded with the fathers and purged them in the wilderness. He will deal the same way with Israel when He gathers them again — for His name's sake, not theirs.