Ezekiel 22:16

And thou shalt take thine inheritance in thyself in the sight of the heathen, and thou shalt know that I am the LORD.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(16) Shalt take thine inheritance.—Rather, thou shalt be profaned by thyself. The same word occurs in Ezekiel 7:24, and is there rendered “shall be defiled;” it admits of either sense, according to its derivation. The meaning is that through their own misconduct they forfeit the privileges of a holy nation, and become profaned or dishonoured in the sight of the heathen. The first prophecy of this chapter closes with the terrible warning of Ezekiel 22:14-16, showing the extreme suffering necessary for the purification of Israel.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

22:1-16 The prophet is to judge the bloody city; the city of bloods. Jerusalem is so called, because of her crimes. The sins which Jerusalem stands charged with, are exceeding sinful. Murder, idolatry, disobedience to parents, oppression and extortion, profanation of the sabbath and holy things, seventh commandment sins, lewdness and adultery. Unmindfulness of God was at the bottom of all this wickedness. Sinners provoke God because they forget him. Jerusalem has filled the measure of her sins. Those who give up themselves to be ruled by their lusts, will justly be given up to be portioned by them. Those who resolve to be their own masters, let them expect no other happiness than their own hands can furnish; and a miserable portion it will prove.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Thou shalt take ... - Better as in the margin. Thou shalt by thine own fault forfeit the privileges of a holy nation.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

16. take thine inheritance in thyself—Formerly thou wast Mine inheritance; but now, full of guilt, thou art no longer Mine, but thine own inheritance to thyself; "in the sight of the heathen," that is, even they shall see that, now that thou hast become a captive, thou art no longer owned as Mine [Vatablus]. Fairbairn and others needlessly take the Hebrew from a different root, "thou shalt be polluted by ('in,' [Henderson]) thyself," &c.; the heathen shall regard thee as a polluted thing, who hast brought thine own reproach on thyself.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

Whereas I was thine inheritance, and thou enjoyedst all riches, delight, safety, peace, and honour in me, so long as thou wert a holy, obedient people; now that you are polluted, a very sink of all filthiness, for which I have cast thee off, and sent thee into captivity, there be to thyself what thou canst be, for I will not be thine inheritance. And this forlorn, abject, helpless state shall be so visible, that the very heathen shall discern, and know, that you are rejected of your God, and he very just in doing so.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

And thou shalt take thine inheritance in thyself in the sight of the Heathen,.... No longer be the inheritance of God, but their own; and not have God to be their portion and inheritance, but themselves; and a poor portion and inheritance that must be, being in captivity, poverty, and distress; enjoying neither their civil nor religious liberties, as heretofore; it would be now manifest to the Heathens that they were forsaken of God, and left to themselves. Some render it, "and thou shalt be profaned, or polluted in thyself" (e); shalt be known to be so to thyself, as well as appear so to others. The Targum is,

"I will be sanctified in thee before the people:''

and thou shalt know that I am the Lord; able to do what I say; faithful to my word; omniscient, omnipresent, and omnipotent; and this thou shalt not only know, but own and acknowledge, when these calamities take place, and have their effect.

(e) "et prophana effecta in te", Junius & Tremellius, Polanus; "prophana efficeris", Piscator; "et polluta eris in te", Grotius; "et prophnata eris in te", Starckiss; "et prophanaberis in te", Cocceius.

Geneva Study Bible

And thou shalt take thy {i} inheritance in thyself in the sight of the nations, and thou shalt know that I am the LORD.

(i) You will be no more the inheritance of the Lord, but forsaken.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

16. take thine inheritance] According to the points: and thou shalt be profaned in (through) thyself. The idea that Jehovah “profanes” his people by casting them out of their land is not uncommon, Isaiah 43:28; Isaiah 47:6, cf. Ezekiel 24:21 (Ezekiel 28:16). It is doubtful if it be anywhere said that this casting out of the people is a profanation of them “in the sight of the heathen.” On the other hand that phrase is often used when Jehovah himself, or his name, is spoken of as being profaned, ch. Ezekiel 20:9; Ezekiel 20:14; Ezekiel 20:22. Particularly it is said that Israel’s dispersion among the nations profaned Jehovah’s name, ch. Ezekiel 36:20-23, and in Ezekiel 39:7 Jehovah says, I will not pollute (let be polluted) my name any more (by the humiliation of his people). A slight change of reading gives: and I will be profaned in thee in the sight.… The whole passage speaks of the chastisement of Israel, not of the purging away their uncleanness (Ezekiel 22:15), which is mentioned incidentally (cf. Ezekiel 22:22). This chastisement is dispersion among the nations, by which Jehovah is profaned and by which Israel learns to know that he who disperses them is the Lord. Corn. suggests: by which (uncleanness) I have been profaned in thee. Does the idea appear in the prophet that Jehovah was profaned in the eyes of the nations by Israel’s idolatries?

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 16. - Thou shalt take thine inheritance, etc.; better, with the Revised Version, Keil, and most other commentators, shalt be profaned in thyself, etc. The prophet is still speaking of punishment, not of restoration. Ezekiel 22:16

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

The Lord is enraged at such abominable doings. He will interfere, and put an end to them by scattering Judah among the heathen. - Ezekiel 22:13. And, behold, I smite my hand because of thy gain which thou hast made, and over thy bloodguiltiness which is in the midst of thee. Ezekiel 22:14. Will thy heart indeed stand firm, or will thy hands be strong for the day when I shall deal with thee? I Jehovah have spoken it, and also do it. Ezekiel 22:15. I will scatter thee among the nations, and disperse thee in the lands, and will utterly remove thine uncleanness from thee. Ezekiel 22:16. And thou wilt be desecrated through thyself before the eyes of the nations, and know that I am Jehovah. - Ezekiel 22:13 is closely connected with the preceding verse. This serves to explain the fact that the only sins mentioned as exciting the wrath of God are covetousness and blood-guiltiness. הכּה , as 2 Kings 11:12 clearly shows, is a contracted expression for הכּה כּף אל (Ezekiel 21:19), and the smiting of the hands together is a gesture indicative of wrathful indignation. For the form דּמך, contracted from דּמיך, see the comm. on Ezekiel 16:45. - As Ezekiel 22:13 leads on to the threatening of judgment, so does Ezekiel 22:14 point in anticipation to the terrible nature of the judgment itself. The question, "will thy heart stand firm?" involves a warning against security. עמד is the opposite of נמס (cf. Ezekiel 21:12), as standing forms the antithesis to passing away (cf. Psalm 102:27). עשׂה אותך, as in Ezekiel 16:59 and Ezekiel 7:27. The Lord will scatter them (cf. Ezekiel 12:15; Ezekiel 20:23), and remove the uncleanness of sin, namely, by purifying the people in exile (cf. Isaiah 4:4). התם, from תּמם, to cause to cease, with מן, to take completely away. נחלתּ, Niphal of חלל fo lahpiN ,נחלתּ ., connected with לעיני גּוים, as in Ezekiel 20:9, not from נחל, as many of the commentators who follow the Septuagint and Vulgate suppose. בּך, not in te, in thyself, but through thee, i.e., through thy sinful conduct and its consequences.