Charles Ellicott Commentary Ezekiel 20:23

"Moreover I sware unto them in the wilderness, that I would scatter them among the nations, and disperse them through the countries;" — Ezekiel 20:23 (ASV)

I would scatter them among the heathen.— This threatening was not designed to be fulfilled in that immediate generation, as abundantly appears from Leviticus 26:33, Deuteronomy 4:27,Deuteronomy 27:64, and the other passages in which it is given, especially Deuteronomy chapters 29 and 30. It was given to that generation as representing the nation, but was only to be carried out when, by a long course of obdurate sin, it should be shown to be imperatively required.

The threat had now already been realized in part and was on the eve of being fully accomplished. It was important for the people to understand that this had been the Divine warning from the beginning, and that in its fulfillment, they were only receiving the punishment that had always been designed for such sin as they had committed.