John Calvin Commentary Ezekiel 14:21-22

"For thus saith the Lord Jehovah: How much more when I send my four sore judgments upon Jerusalem, the sword, and the famine, and the evil beasts, and the pestilence, to cut off from it man and beast! Yet, behold, therein shall be left a remnant that shall be carried forth, both sons and daughters: behold, they shall come forth unto you, and ye shall see their way and their doings; and ye shall be comforted concerning the evil that I have brought upon Jerusalem, even concerning all that I have brought upon it." — Ezekiel 14:21-22 (ASV)

He now reasons, as we said in the beginning, from the less to the greater. Until now he has said, "If I send forth only one weapon to take vengeance upon men, no one will oppose my carrying out my decree." Then he enumerated four weapons, one after another.

Now he adds, "What then, when I have heaped together all punishments, and not only have sent pestilence or sword or famine, but, as it were, when I have four armies prepared and drawn up, and command them to attack and destroy mankind, how will even one person escape?"

If Job, Daniel, and Noah cannot snatch away even their sons and daughters from a single scourge, how will they snatch them from four at once! We see, then, that God here cuts away the false and specious hopes by which the false prophets deluded the miserable exiles.

These prophets promised them a return to their country and daily proclaimed it was impossible for the sacred city, God's earthly dwelling-place, to be taken by the enemy, or for the religion God had promised to be eternal to perish.

Therefore, since the false prophets deceived these miserable exiles in this way, God here shows how greatly they erred in cherishing any hope. He shows this because He had not only one kind of scourge prepared for Jerusalem but approached it with a multitude of them to destroy and cut off both man and beast.

This, then, is the full meaning.

Now he says, If I shall have sent my four evil judgments. Here God calls His judgments evils, in the sense in which He says in Isaiah that He creates good and evil (Isaiah 45:7), since immediately afterwards He expresses His meaning by saying life and death. Hence, what is against us is here called evil, and so this epithet should be referred to our perceptions.

For our natural common sense dictates that whatever is desirable and useful to us is good. Food, life, and peace are good; whatever is conducive to life and what we naturally wish for, we call good. Similarly, on the other hand, death and famine are evils; so are nakedness, want, and shame. Why is this so? It is because we dread whatever is not useful to us, and because we flee from evils as soon as reason dawns.

In short, evil here is not opposed to justice and righteousness, but, as I have said, to human opinion and our natural senses. He now confirms what we said before, namely, that these are God’s judgments: when enemies rage against us, when pestilence attacks us, when poverty assails us, and when wild beasts break in upon us.

Therefore, when we suffer under these afflictions, let us learn to immediately look within ourselves and discover the cause why God is so angry with us. For if we turn our attention towards the sword, pestilence, and famine, we are like dogs that gnaw and bite what is thrown at them, and do not regard the hand that threw it, but only vent their rage upon the stone.

For such is our stupidity when we complain that famine is injurious to us, that wild beasts are troublesome, and that war is horrible. Hence, this passage should always be kept in mind: that these are God’s evil judgments, that is, scourges by which He chastises our sins, and thus shows Himself hostile and opposed to us.

He now adds, there shall be a remnant in that escape. They explain this verse parenthetically, as if God, by way of correction, pledged to act more mercifully towards that city than if He struck any land with only one scourge. They explain it this way: "Although these four scourges should meet together, yet I will mitigate the severity of My vengeance, since some shall go out safely and reach even to you."

Almost all agree with this interpretation; but when I weigh the Prophet’s intention more accurately, I cannot agree with it. Because God seems to me to confirm what He had said before: that He would be a just avenger of wickedness while He treats the Jews so harshly. To discover the most suitable meaning, we must consider the condition of the exiles.

It was surely worse than if they had been destroyed by a single death, for they were dying daily. And at length, when cast out of the sacred land, they were like the dead. Hence, that exile was more sorrowful than death, since it was better to be buried in the holy land than among the profane. Since, then, they had been mixed with dogs, it was no life for them to prolong a wretched existence amidst constant weariness. And if the hope of restoration had been taken away (a topic we are not now discussing, and to which not a single syllable here applies), exile by itself was like death.

Since, then, the Prophet here says, that some should be left, to escape, he does not mean that they would be safe; hence, this is not a lessening of their punishment. For as we saw before, and especially in Jeremiah, those who died quickly were less to be lamented (Jeremiah 22:10). Finally, when the Prophet here says that some would come to Babylon, he does not promise them pardon, as if God were favorable to them, or noticed them kindly; not at all. For he speaks of the reprobate, and of those who bore on their foreheads the clear sign of their ungodliness, and who show by their whole life that they are abandoned and most worthy of final destruction.

For he says, a departure of those who go forth shall come; sons as well as daughters shall come to you, says he, and you shall see their ways and their work. That is, you will see that the people are so wicked that their ungodliness will compel you to confess that the city was worthy of perishing, and the people deserving of destruction.

For the word "consoling," which the Prophet uses immediately afterwards, refers here to the acknowledgment of their wickedness—an acknowledgment that appeases the minds of those who formerly roared and murmured against God. Nor does he mean that consolation which, according to the common proverb, finds comfort in having companions in sorrow, but only the calm acknowledgment of God’s just vengeance, in which the ten tribes acquiesced.

For before they saw the state of Jerusalem's inhabitants, they thought that God was too severe, and this led to their outcry and complaint against Him.

The Prophet, therefore, now says that the sight of your wickedness will bring you consolation. For you will see that it could not be otherwise and that you deserved such punishment.

Hence, when you have acknowledged your utter wickedness, you will regard My justice with peaceful and tranquil minds. You will then cease your complaints, which now agitate your minds in different directions.

The rest tomorrow.

Prayer:

Grant, Almighty God, since You daily exercise Your judgments in all parts of the world, and since many regions are harassed by pestilence and war, that so long as You spare us we may profit by the evils and slaughters of others. Grant, also, if Your scourges reach also unto us, that we may not be obstinate, but may submit ourselves to Your judgment, and being truly humble, may we seek pardon through the serious pursuit of piety, so that we may truly acknowledge You; and may feel You to be a favorable Father to us, until at length we enjoy Your love in Your heavenly kingdom, through Christ our Lord. — Amen.

[Exposition continues from previous day's lecture]

We said in yesterday’s lecture, when the Lord pronounces that He would have some remnants when destroying Jerusalem, that this is no act of clemency, as if He had relaxed the severity of His justice. For exile was not preferable to death, as we may gather from the context, since God does not use these words of His elect.

For there is no mention of repentance, so that the cause of His vengeance would be clear in their crimes. You shall see, therefore, and shall take comfort: because the exiles who were then in Chaldea could not agree with the judgment of God.

But when they saw their brethren of such corrupt morals, the review of their sins brought them comfort, that is, it appeased their minds. He repeats the same in the last verse of the chapter.