John Calvin Commentary Ezekiel 12:16

"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 nations whither they come; and they shall know that I am Jehovah." — Ezekiel 12:16 (ASV)

Some think that God here speaks of the faithful, whom he had determined to preserve in the very midst of death. And certainly, there is some mitigation of his former vengeance. But it is not in harmony with the rest to understand the faithful here, for he is speaking of the people in general.

But as we have already seen that the slaughter of the city was such that God scattered the remnant to the four winds, and the Prophet confirms this. We must hold, then, first of all, that this promise was not directed particularly to the elect or to God’s Church, but rather that God is showing that exile will not be the end of woes to the captives, although they will not be directly cut to pieces.

Their condition, indeed, might seem preferable, but God pronounces that he would be inexorable towards them. Although not all would perish by the sword, famine, or pestilence, and some remnant would be left, that will happen, he says, not because I am going to be reconciled to them, but so that I may spread their crimes among the Gentiles.

For when he says, that they may narrate, he does not mean that they would be witnesses to their own sins, as the pious are accustomed (as we shall see elsewhere) to extol the mercy of God and candidly confess their faults before men. He does not mean that kind of confession which is a sign of repentance, but rather a real speech.

For that exile proclaimed with a loud voice that those men whom God treated with such hostility were abandoned. He had chosen the people, was the guardian of the city, and would have been their perpetual preserver, if their perverseness had not prevented it.

Hence, they were destitute of his aid, deprived of all their goods, and treated tyrannically by their enemies. This made their extreme wickedness clearly appear. They narrated, then, not with words but by their actual situation, their own sins to the Gentiles.

Now, therefore, we understand God's intention: although some remained alive and untouched by the sword, famine, or pestilence, yet they were cursed, since their expulsion to distant places served no other purpose than that of spreading their disgrace and rendering them detestable, so that the profane Gentiles acknowledged that they deserved vengeance for their wickedness.

Therefore they shall narrate among the Gentiles all their abominations, and they shall know that I am Jehovah. He again repeats that sentiment, that they would realize too late what they had despised: since God had acted toward them as a father, and they had not acknowledged his favor; and finally, they would be compelled to feel him as their judge, even to their eternal destruction.

Prayer:

Grant, Almighty God, since You declare to us by so many proofs the formidable nature of Your anger, especially against the obstinate and rebellious, who reject Your word clearly spoken to them: Grant, I say, that we may embrace what is proposed to us in Your name with the humility and reverence becoming Your children, so that we may repent of our sins and obtain their pardon, until finally we are freed from all corruptions of the flesh, and become partakers of that eternal and celestial glory which Your only-begotten Son has purchased for us by his blood. — Amen.