Charles Ellicott Commentary Ezekiel 20

Came to inquire. —It does not appear that the elders actually proposed their inquiry. It undoubtedly related not to personal affairs, but to the welfare of the nation. In this prophecy, the Lord meets their unspoken question.

I will not be enquired of by you. —As in Ezekiel 14:3. St. Jerome thus comments on the words: “To the holy, and to those who ask for right things, the promise is given, While they are yet speaking, I will say, Here I am; but to sinners, such as these elders of Israel were, and as those whose sins the prophet proceeds to describe, no answer is given, but only a fierce rebuke for their sins, to which He adds His oath, As I live, to strengthen His solemn refusal.”

Wilt thou judge them? —The form of the repeated question is equivalent to an imperative—judge them. Instead of allowing their enquiry and entreaty for the averting of judgment, the prophet is directed to set before them their long series of apostasies and provocations. “Judge” is used in the sense of “bring to trial,” “prefer charges.”

When I chose Israel. —In Ezekiel 20:5-9 the Lord takes up the first, or Egyptian period of the history of Israel. The record of that period, as it has come to us in the Pentateuch, does not contain either any commands against idolatry, or any notice of the rebellion of the people against such command; but both are clearly implied.

The very mission of Moses to deliver them rested upon a covenant by which they were to be the peculiar people of Jehovah (Exodus 6:2–4); the command to go into the wilderness to sacrifice to the Lord implies that this was a duty neglected in Egypt; and their previous habitual idolatries may be certainly inferred from Leviticus 17:7, while the disposition of their hearts is seen in their prompt relapse into the idolatry of the golden calf in Exodus 32. Their whole murmurings and rebellions were but the manifestation of their resistance to having the Lord for their God, and His will for their guide.

Lifted up mine hand —As the form of taking an oath (see Ezekiel 20:23 and Ezekiel 47:14). The reference is to such passages as Genesis 15:17-21; Exodus 6:8; Deuteronomy 32:40, etc. The phrase is repeated in Ezekiel 20:6, which is a continuation of Ezekiel 20:5.

The glory of all lands. —So Palestine is constantly spoken of, both in the promise and in its fulfillment. However strange this may seem to us now in regard to parts of the land, after centuries of desolation, misrule, and oppression, it is plain from Joshua 23:14, and many other passages, that at the time the Israelites entered upon its possession it fulfilled their utmost expectation.