Ezekiel 20:15 — meaning, Hebrew and Greek word study, commentary
Ezekiel 20:15
Yet also I lifted up my hand unto them in the wilderness, that I would not bring them into the land which I had given them, flowing with milk and honey, which is the glory of all lands;
to lift · verb, qal perfect, 1st person common singular
hand
יָדִ֛יya.Di
H3027
a hand (the open one (indicating power · noun, common both genders singular construct + pronominal suffix
wilderness
בַּמִּדְבָּ֑רba.mid.Bar
H4057
a pasture (i.e. open field · preposition with the article + noun, common masculine singular absolute
bring
הָבִ֨יאha.Vi'
H935
to go or come (in a wide variety of applications) · verb, hiphil infinitive construct
land
הָאָ֣רֶץha.'A.retz
H776
the earth (at large · definite article + noun, common feminine singular absolute
given
נָתַ֗תִּיna.Ta.ti
H5414
to give · verb, qal perfect, 1st person common singular
flowing
זָבַ֤תza.Vat
H2100
to flow freely (as water) · verb, qal active participle, feminine singular construct
milk
חָלָב֙cha.Lav
H2461
milk (as the richness of kine) · noun, common masculine singular absolute
honey
וּדְבַ֔שׁu.de.Vash
H1706
honey (from its stickiness) · conjunction + noun, common masculine singular absolute
glory
צְבִ֥יtze.Vi
H6643
splendor (as conspicuous) · noun, common masculine singular absolute
lands
הָאֲרָצֽוֹתha.'a.ra.Tzot
H776
the earth (at large · definite article + noun, common feminine plural 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
Psalms 95:11 Unto whom I sware in my wrath that they should not enter into my rest.
Psalms 106:26 Therefore he lifted up his hand against them, to overthrow them in the wilderness:
Numbers 14:23-30 Surely they shall not see the land which I sware unto their fathers, neither shall any of them that provoked me see it:
Numbers 26:64-65 But among these there was not a man of them whom Moses and Aaron the priest numbered, when they numbered the children of Israel in the wilde…
Deuteronomy 1:34-35 And the LORD heard the voice of your words, and was wroth, and sware, saying,
Ezekiel 20:23 I lifted up mine hand unto them also in the wilderness, that I would scatter them among the heathen, and disperse them through the countries…
Hebrews 3:11 So I sware in my wrath, They shall not enter into my rest.)
Hebrews 3:18 And to whom sware he that they should not enter into his rest, but to them that believed not?
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…
I swore against them (Psa 95:11; Psa 106:26) that I would not permit the generation that came out of Egypt to enter Canaan.
Adam Clarke on Ezekiel 20:15
I lifted up my hand - Their provocations in the wilderness were so great, that I vowed never to bring them into the promised land. I did not consume them, but I disinherited them. See the note on Eze 20:5 (note).
John Gill on Ezekiel 20:15
Yet also I lifted up mine hand unto them in the wilderness,.... Swore unto them, as in Ezekiel 20:5;
that I would not bring them into the land which I had given them; by promise to their fathers, and to them. This is to be understood of the generation that came out of Egypt, that received the ill report the spies made, and murmured against the Lord; wherefore he swore in his wrath that they should not enter into his rest; or he would not bring them into the land of Canaan, save Caleb and Joshua; and accordingly none else entered but them, though their posterity did; and so both his oath to them, that they should not enter, and his oath to Abraham, that he would give to his seed the land, ha…
(Verse 15) Therefore I lifted up my hand against them in the wilderness, to not bring them into the land that I had given them, flowing with milk and honey, which is the most excellent of all lands, because they had rejected my judgments and had not walked in my commandments, and had violated my sabbaths. After idols their heart went, and my eye spared them so as not to kill them, nor did I consume them in the wilderness. LXX: And I lifted up my hand against them in the wilderness, so as to not bring them into the land that I had given them: a land flowing with milk and honey: a hive beyond all lands: because they rejected my justifications, and had not walked in my commandments, and had violated my sabbaths, and had walked after the thoughts of their own hearts. And my eye spared them, so that I would not destroy them, and I did not kill them in the wilderness. Indeed I resolved to pour out my fury on them and to destroy them, but I acted for the sake of my name, so that it would not be profaned among the nations, namely the Amalekites and the others who fought against them in the wilderness. I did not allow them to enter the land that I had promised to give them, a land flowing with milk and honey, which is the most excellent of all lands, like a honeycomb. The cause of this punishment and sentence is that they rejected my judgments, did not walk in my statutes, and violated my Sabbaths. The cause of this cause is that they did not do these things because their heart followed the idols of Egypt. However, my eye spared them, saying that I would not kill them and destroy them completely. But it is asked, how did I spare them when their corpses fell in the wilderness, and no one entered the promised land except Joshua and Caleb, the son of Jephunneh. From which we understand that they are not kept for eternal punishments, nor erased from the book of the living, nor consumed in the presence of the Lord. For if it is believed that they perished because they were not admitted into the land of promise, then Moses also perished, who only saw the land of promise and did not enter it. This is mentioned in the book of the Lord Jesus: My servant Moses has died (Deut. XXXIV, 5). And in Malachi: Remember the Law of Moses my servant (Malachi 4:4). And in Jeremiah, as if speaking to a friend and familiar, God says: If Moses and Samuel stood before me (Jeremiah 15:1).…
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
John Calvin on Ezekiel 20:15
Ezekiel 20:15
15. Yet also I lifted up my hand unto them in the wilderness, that I would not bring them into the land which I had given them, flowing with milk and honey, which is the glory of all lands;
15. Atque etiam ego manure meam sustuli ipsis in deserto, ne inducerem eos in terram quam dederam ipsis fluentem lacte et melle, quae desiderium est cunctis terris. [265]
God here shows that his threats were ineffectual, even when he inflicted severe punishment, yet the people were not broken down and subdued: and this is a sign of a most perverse disposition. The foolish are at length corrected with rods, but when those who are chastised become worse instead of repenting, they betray the…
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 20:13
they walked not in My statutes They tested Me with the calf, and in Rephidim [i.e., showing unwillingness] to receive the Torah, and they left over some of the manna.
and My Sabbaths they desecrated Some of the people went out to gather manna.
