Ezekiel 20                                                               Book of Ezekiel 

Ezekiel 20:1 And it came to pass in the seventh year, in the fifth month, the tenth day of the month, that certain of the elders of Israel came to inquire of the Lord, and sat before me.

2 Then came the word of the Lord unto me, saying,

3 Son of man, speak unto the elders of Israel, and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord God; Are ye come to inquire of me? As I live, saith the Lord God, I will not be inquired of by you.

4 Wilt thou judge them, son of man, wilt thou judge them? cause them to know the abominations of their fathers:

5 And say unto them, Thus saith the Lord God; In the day when I chose Israel, and lifted up mine hand unto the seed of the house of Jacob, and made myself known unto them in the land of Egypt, when I lifted up mine hand unto them, saying, I am the Lord your God;

6 In the day that I lifted up mine hand unto them, to bring them forth of the land of Egypt into a land that I had espied for them, flowing with milk and honey, which is the glory of all lands:

7 Then said I unto them, Cast ye away every man the abominations of his eyes, and defile not yourselves with the idols of Egypt: I am the Lord your God.

8 But they rebelled against me, and would not hearken unto me: they did not every man cast away the abominations of their eyes, neither did they forsake the idols of Egypt: then I said, I will pour out my fury upon them to accomplish my anger against them in the midst of the land of Egypt.

9 But I wrought for my name's sake, that it should not be polluted before the heathen, among whom they were, in whose sight I made myself known unto them, in bringing them forth out of the land of Egypt.

10 Wherefore I caused them to go forth out of the land of Egypt, and brought them into the wilderness.

 

11 And I gave them my statutes, and shewed them my judgments, which if a man do, he shall even live in them.

12 Moreover also I gave them My Sabbaths, to be a sign between me and them, that they might know that I am the Lord that sanctify them.

• Christ our Sabbath = Rest in The Lord

13 But the house of Israel rebelled against me in the wilderness: they walked not in my statutes, and they despised my judgments, which if a man do, he shall even live in them; and my Sabbaths they greatly polluted: then I said, I would pour out my fury upon them in the wilderness, to consume them.

14 But I wrought for my name's sake, that it should not be polluted before the heathen, in whose sight I brought them out.

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;

16 Because they despised my judgments, and walked not in my statutes, but polluted my Sabbaths: for their heart went after their idols.

 

17 Nevertheless mine eye spared them from destroying them, neither did I make an end of them in the wilderness.

18 But I said unto their children in the wilderness, Walk ye not in the statutes of your fathers, neither observe their judgments, nor defile yourselves with their idols:

19 I am the Lord your God; walk in my statutes, and keep my judgments, and do them;

20 And hallow my Sabbaths; and they shall be a sign between me and you, that ye may know that I am the Lord your God.

21 Notwithstanding the children rebelled against me: they walked not in my statutes, neither kept my judgments to do them, which if a man do, he shall even live in them; they polluted my Sabbaths: then I said, I would pour out my fury upon them, to accomplish my anger against them in the wilderness.

22 Nevertheless I withdrew mine hand, and wrought for my name's sake, that it should not be polluted in the sight of the heathen, in whose sight I brought them forth.

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;

• Ezekiel 12:15 And they shall know that I am the Lord, when I shall scatter them among the nations, and disperse them in the countries.
  16 But I will leave a few men of them from the sword, from the famine, and from the pestilence; that they may declare all their abominations among the heathen whither they come; and they shall know that I am the Lord.

24 Because they had not executed my judgments, but had despised my statutes, and had polluted my Sabbaths, and their eyes were after their fathers' idols.

25 Wherefore I gave them also statutes that were not good, and judgments whereby they should not live;

• I gave them also statutes, its.
• In Hebrew idiom = I suffered others to give them statutes, it, in their captivity.
• Active verbs in Hebrew were used to express not only the doing of the thing, but the permission of the thing which the agent is said to do.
• The verb Nathan, to give, is therefore often rendered to suffer in this sense.

26 And I polluted them in their own gifts, in that they caused to pass through the fire all that openeth the womb, that I might make them desolate, to the end that they might know that I am the Lord.

 

27 Therefore, son of man, speak unto the house of Israel, and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord God; Yet in this your fathers have blasphemed me, in that they have committed a trespass against me.

• Trespass = treachery

28 For when I had brought them into the land, for the which I lifted up mine hand to give it to them, then they saw every high hill, and all the thick trees, and they offered there their sacrifices, and there they presented the provocation of their offering: there also they made their sweet savour, and poured out there their drink offerings.

• I had brought them into the land, which I lifted up mine hand to give it to them
• What do they do?
• They offered their sacrifices, but not to God, but to Baal
• Exodus 13:12 That thou shalt set apart unto the Lord all that openeth the matrix, and every firstling that cometh of a beast which thou hast; the males shall be the Lord's.
• The con = trast is with their pollution of God's gifts pass through: or, pass over.
• Ezekiel 20:16 Because they despised my judgments, and walked not in my statutes, but polluted my Sabbaths: for their heart went after their idols.
• The firstborn were to be passed over to God
• But they passed them (through the fire) over to Moloch
• Lev 18:21 And thou shalt not let any of thy seed pass through the fire to Molech, neither shalt thou profane the name of thy God: I am the Lord.
• Deut 18:10 There shall not be found among you any one that maketh his son or his daughter to pass through the fire, or that useth divination, or an observer of times, or an enchanter, or a witch,
  11 Or a charmer, or a consulter with familiar spirits, or a wizard, or a necromancer.

29 Then I said unto them, What is the high place whereunto ye go? And the name thereof is called Bamah unto this day.

• Bamah = OT:1120 = heights of Baal = Satan's teaching
• What is the high place? 
• To mark the contrast between this idolatrous high place and Zion the true high and Holy Mountain
• Ezekiel 20:40 For in Mine Holy Mountain, in the mountain of the height of Israel, saith the Lord God, there shall all the house of Israel, all of them in the land, Serve me: there will I accept them, and there will I require your offerings, and the firstfruits of your oblations, with all your Holy things.

30 Wherefore say unto the house of Israel, Thus saith the Lord God; Are ye polluted after the manner of your fathers? and commit ye whoredom after their abominations?

• You have commit, whoredom after their abominations

31 For when ye offer your gifts, when ye make your sons to pass through the fire, ye pollute yourselves with all your idols, even unto this day: and shall I be inquired of by you, O house of Israel? As I live, saith the Lord God, I will not be inquired of by you.

• Your sons = your sons and your daughters
• When ye make your sons to pass through the fire
• Jeremiah 9:14 But have walked after the imagination of their own heart, and after Baalim, which their fathers taught them:
  15 Therefore thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel; Behold, I will feed them, even this people, with wormwood, and give them water of gall to drink.
  16 I will scatter them also among the heathen, whom neither they nor their fathers have known: and I will send a sword after them, till I have consumed them.
• Matthews 23:32  Fill ye up then the measure of your fathers.
  33 Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of hell?
• Jeremiah 49:1 Concerning the Ammonites, thus saith the Lord; Hath Israel no sons? hath he no heir? why then doth their king inherit Gad, and his people dwell in his cities?
  2 Therefore, behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will cause an alarm of war to be heard in Rabbah of the Ammonites; and it shall be a desolate heap, and her daughters shall be burned with fire: then shall Israel be heir unto them that were his heirs, saith the Lord.
• Smith Bible Dictionary: Molech teaching - According to Jewish tradition, the image of Molech was of brass, hollow within, and was situated without Jerusalem. "His face was (that) of a calf, and his hands stretched forth like a man who opens his hands to receive (something) of his neighbor. And they kindled it with fire, and the priests took the babe and put it into the hands of Molech, and the babe gave up the ghost."
• Today they teach a fly away and lead their children up to Satan, false christ
• Any teaching that's not in God's Word, is false
• Mark 13:9 But take heed to yourselves: for they shall deliver you up to councils; and in the synagogues ye shall be beaten: and ye shall be brought before rulers and kings for my sake, for a testimony against them.
• Who does this?
• Mark 13:12 Now the brother shall betray the brother to death, and the father the son; and children shall rise up against their parents, and shall cause them to be put to death.
• Who's death?
• Satan
• Bible study hour: Satan's names
• 1 Corinthians 15:26 The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death.
• Revelation 20:14 And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death.
John 17:12 While I was with them in the world, I kept them in thy name: those that thou gavest me I have kept, and none of them is lost, but the son of perdition; that the scripture might be fulfilled.
Hebrews 2:14 Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil;
1 John 3:7 Little children, let no man deceive you: he that doeth righteousness is righteous, even as he is righteous.
8 He that committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil.

32 And that which cometh into your mind shall not be at all, that ye say, We will be as the heathen, as the families of the countries, to serve wood and stone.

• The House of Israel is saying this = We will be as the heathen, as the families of the countries, to serve wood and stone.
• Mind = spirit

33 As I live, saith the Lord God, surely with a mighty hand, and with a stretched out arm, and with fury poured out, will I rule over you:

• God said, I will rule over you
• Deut 4:34 Or hath God assayed to go and take him a nation from the midst of another nation, by temptations, by signs, and by wonders, and by war, and by a mighty hand, and by a stretched out arm, and by great terrors, according to all that the Lord your God did for you in Egypt before your eyes?
  35 Unto thee it was shewed, that thou mightest know that the Lord he is God; there is none else beside him.
  36 Out of heaven He made thee to hear his voice, that He might instruct thee: and upon earth He shewed thee his great fire; and thou heardest his words out of the midst of the fire.

34 And I will bring you out from the people, and will gather you out of the countries wherein ye are scattered, with a mighty hand, and with a stretched out arm, and with fury poured out.

35 And I will bring you into the wilderness of the people, and there will I plead with you face to face.

• After the 7th vial = the cup of wrath poured out
• The wilderness of the people = Probably another country which would be to them another wilderness in which they were tested as to whether they would hear.

36 Like as I pleaded with your fathers in the wilderness of the land of Egypt, so will I plead with you, saith the Lord God.

• God send teachers; it's up to you to study
• 4th trumpet = It's to make a choice, choose to follow God or Satan
• Numbers 14:21 But as truly as I live, all the earth shall be filled with the glory of the Lord.
  22 Because all those men which have seen My glory, and My miracles, which I did in Egypt and in the wilderness, and have tempted me now these ten times, and have not hearkened to my voice;
  23 Surely they shall not see the land which I sware unto their fathers, neither shall any of them that provoked me see it:
  24 But My servant Caleb, because he had another spirit with him, and hath followed me fully, him will I bring into the land whereinto he went; and his seed shall possess it.
  25 (Now the Amalekites and the Canaanites dwelt in the valley.) To morrow turn you, and get you into the wilderness by the way of the Red sea.
  26 And the Lord spake unto Moses and unto Aaron, saying,
  27 How long shall I bear with this evil congregation, which murmur against me? I have heard the murmurings of the children of Israel, which they murmur against me.
  28 Say unto them, As truly as I live, saith the Lord, as ye have spoken in mine ears, so will I do to you:
  29 Your carcases shall fall in this wilderness; and all that were numbered of you, according to your whole number, from twenty years old and upward, which have murmured against me,
  30 Doubtless ye shall not come into the land, concerning which I sware to make you dwell therein, save Caleb the son of Jephunneh, and Joshua the son of Nun.
  31 But your little ones, which ye said should be a prey, them will I bring in, and they shall know the land which ye have despised.
  32 But as for you, your carcases, they shall fall in this wilderness.
  33 And your children shall wander in the wilderness forty years, and bear your whoredoms, until your carcases be wasted in the wilderness.

37 And I will cause you to pass under the rod, and I will bring you into the bond of the covenant:

38 And I will purge out from among you the rebels, and them that transgress against me: I will bring them forth out of the country where they sojourn, and they shall not enter into the land of Israel: and ye shall know that I am the Lord.

• They shall not enter into the land of Israel
• Ye shall know that I am the Lord.

39 As for you, O house of Israel, thus saith the Lord God; Go ye, serve ye every one his idols, and hereafter also, if ye will not hearken unto me: but pollute ye my holy name no more with your gifts, and with your idols.

• O house of Israel, thus saith the Lord God; Go ye, serve ye every one his idols
• If ye will not hearken unto me: but pollute ye my holy name no more with your gifts, and with your idols.

40 For in mine holy mountain, in the mountain of the height of Israel, saith the Lord God, there shall all the house of Israel, all of them in the land, serve me: there will I accept them, and there will I require your offerings, and the firstfruits of your oblations, with all your holy things.

41 I will accept you with your sweet savour, when I bring you out from the people, and gather you out of the countries wherein ye have been scattered; and I will be sanctified in you before the heathen.

• I will accept you with your sweet savour
• Rest = Sabbath
• 7th trumpet = God gather His elect

42 And ye shall know that I am the Lord, when I shall bring you into the land of Israel, into the country for the which I lifted up mine hand to give it to your fathers.

• Ye shall know that I am the Lord
• I tried to give Israel to them, but they followed others gods

43 And there shall ye remember your ways, and all your doings, wherein ye have been defiled; and ye shall lothe yourselves in your own sight for all your evils that ye have committed.

• Evils = Same word as "wicked

44 And ye shall know that I am the Lord, when I have wrought with you for my name's sake, not according to your wicked ways, nor according to your corrupt doings, O ye house of Israel, saith the Lord God.

• Notice He's talking the the house of Israel

45 Moreover the word of the Lord came unto me, saying,

46 Son of man, set thy face toward the south, and drop thy word toward the south, and prophesy against the forest of the south field;

• South field = the house of Judah and Jerusalem
• The south = against: or, unto  "toward".

47 And say to the forest of the south, Hear the word of the Lord; Thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I will kindle a fire in thee, and it shall devour every green tree in thee, and every dry tree: the flaming flame shall not be quenched, and all faces from the south to the north shall be burned therein.

48 And all flesh shall see that I the Lord have kindled it: it shall not be quenched.

• All flesh = all people, every one

49 Then said I, Ah Lord God! they say of me, Doth he not speak parables?

• Exactly 2520 years from the exile of Benjamin, Iceland became an independent nation.

 

•  The first tribe to be conquered by the Assyrians was Manasseh, in 745 B.C. Exactly 2520 years later America became a nation on July 4, 1776.

 

• Study the book: Abrahamic Covenant, (A study outline of the identity of God's people) By E. Raymond Capt - page 25