to go (causatively · conjunction + verb, hiphil sequential imperfect, 1st person common singular + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine plural
land
מֵאֶ֣רֶץme.'E.retz
H776
the earth (at large · preposition + noun, common feminine singular construct
Egypt
מִצְרָ֑יִםmitz.Ra.yim
H4714
Mitsrajim · proper noun, a place name
brought
וָאֲבִאֵ֖םva.'a.vi.'Em
H935
to go or come (in a wide variety of applications) · conjunction + verb, hiphil sequential imperfect, 1st person common singular + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine plural
wilderness
הַמִּדְבָּֽרha.mid.Bar
H4057
a pasture (i.e. open field · definite article + noun, common masculine singular absolute
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
Exodus 13:17-18 And it came to pass, when Pharaoh had let the people go, that God led them not through the way of the land of the Philistines, although that…
Exodus 14:17-22 And I, behold, I will harden the hearts of the Egyptians, and they shall follow them: and I will get me honour upon Pharaoh, and upon all hi…
Exodus 15:22 So Moses brought Israel from the Red sea, and they went out into the wilderness of Shur; and they went three days in the wilderness, and fou…
Exodus 20:2 I am the LORD thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Ezekiel 20:10-26
The history of the struggle between the sins of Israel, by which they endeavoured to ruin themselves, and the mercies of God, by which he endeavoured to save them and make them happy, is here continued: and the instances of that struggle in these verses have reference to what passed between God and them in the wilderness, in which God honoured himself and they shamed themselves. The story of Israel in the wilderness is referred to in the New Testament (1 Co. 10 and Heb. 3), as well as often in the Old, for warning to us Christians; and therefore we are particularly concerned in these verses. Observe,
I. The great things God did for them, which he puts them in mind of, not as grudging them hi…
then I said, I will . . . But, &c.--that is, (God speaking in condescension to human modes of conception) their spiritual degradation deserved I should destroy them, "but I wrought (namely, the deliverance 'out of . . . Egypt') for My name's sake"; not for their merits (a rebuke to their national pride). God's "name" means the sum-total of His perfections. To manifest these, His gratuitous mercy abounding above their sins, yet without wrong to His justice, and so to set forth His glory, was and is the ultimate end of His dealings (Eze 20:14, Eze 20:22; Sa2 7:23; Isa 63:12; Rom 9:17).
Adam Clarke on Ezekiel 20:10
I caused them to go forth - Though greatly oppressed and degraded, they were not willing to leave their house of bondage. I was obliged to force them away.
John Gill on Ezekiel 20:10
Wherefore I caused them to go forth out of the land of Egypt,.... It was the Lord that brought them out from thence with a mighty hand and outstretched arm; that obliged Pharaoh to let them go, and gave them favour in the eyes of the Egyptians, that they went out unmolested by them:
and brought them into the wilderness; before they went into the land of Canaan; here they had freedom from their bondage, and were in a wonderful manner provided for by the Lord, guided, supported, preserved, and at last brought to the promised land.
The Church Fathers
(Verse 10 and following) Therefore I expelled them from the land of Egypt, and brought them into the desert, and gave them my commandments, and showed them my judgments, which a man should do and live by them. Moreover, I gave them my Sabbaths to be a sign between me and them, that they might know that I am the Lord who sanctifies them. But the house of Israel provoked me in the desert. They did not walk in my commandments and they cast away my judgments, which a man should do and live by them, and they greatly violated my Sabbaths. Therefore, I said that I would pour out my fury upon them in the wilderness and consume them, and I did so for the sake of my name, so that it would not be profaned in the sight of the nations, from whom I had brought them out. These things are said to those who were brought out of Egypt into the wilderness: that, having been freed from the vices of the Egyptians, they might more easily fulfill the commandments of God in the solitude and observe his judgments and keep the Sabbath. These things were given as a sign between the one who gave them and those to whom they were given, as the Scripture says: And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: And you, command the Israelites, saying: See, and keep my Sabbaths, which is a sign between me and you throughout your generations, that you may know that I, the Lord, sanctify you, and keep the Sabbath, because it is holy to you. Whosoever violates it shall be put to death. Everyone who works on it shall have that soul cut off from among his people (Exod. XXXI, 13, 14). Therefore, the Sabbath and circumcision are given as a sign of the true Sabbath and true circumcision: so that we may know that we must rest from the works of the world and circumcise not the flesh, but the heart. Thus, by working for six days, we rest on the seventh day, doing nothing else day and night except acknowledging that everything we live is owed to the Lord, and at the return of the week, we consecrate ourselves entirely to His name, so that through the sanctification of the day, we may remember the Lord who sanctifies us. The Lord gave these commandments and statutes and the observance of the Sabbath in the desert, so that those who did them would live by them and not go beyond them, as promised in the Gospel. They violated them, not once or a little, but greatly, so that the extent of the violation would be shown.…
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Dictionary and topics
Law Of Moses, The · Given: In the desert — Given: In the desert
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
John Calvin on Ezekiel 20:10
Ezekiel 20:10
10. Wherefore I caused them to go forth out of the land of Egypt, and brought them into the wilderness.
10. Et eduxi (eduxi ergo) eos e terra AEgypti, et adduxi in desertum.
After Ezekiel had taught that the Israelites deserved to perish in Egypt, unless God had spared them for his name's sake rather than for their own, he now adds the cause of their coming forth, which was the promotion of his own glory. Hence, therefore, we gather that the Israelites falsely imagined any other cause of their deliverance than that respect of which the Prophet now speaks. But this is more than if he had simply said that they were snatched from the tyranny of Egypt by God's gratuitous pity, s…
Behaviour of Israel in the Desert
Eze 20:10. And I led them out of the land of Egypt, and brought them into the desert; Eze 20:11. And gave them my statutes, and my rights I made known to them, which man is to do that he may live through them. Eze 20:12. I also gave them my Sabbaths, that they might be for a sign between me and them, that they might now that I Jehovah sanctify them. Eze 20:13. But the house of Israel was rebellious against me in the desert: they did not walk in my statutes, and my rights they rejected, which man is to do, that he may live through them, and my Sabbaths they greatly profaned: Then I thought to pour out my wrath upon them in the desert to destroy them. Eze 20:1…
Each generation of Israelites rebelled against the Lord and refused to obey the commandments he gave them. Each time, the Lord threatened to pour out his fury upon them (20:8, 13, 21), but he relented for the honor of his name, lest the nations around them should think the Lord’s power insufficient to bring his people into the Promised Land.
Rashi on Ezekiel 20:9
that it should not be desecrated That My Name should not be desecrated; since I became known to them and I promised to take them out, and the Egyptians recognized that they are My people, if I were to destroy them their enemies would say, “Because He has not the ability to take them out.”
