John Calvin Commentary Ezekiel 20:31

"and when ye offer your gifts, when ye make your sons to pass through the fire, do ye pollute yourselves with all your idols unto this day? and shall I be inquired of by you, O house of Israel? As I live, saith the Lord Jehovah, I will not be inquired of by you;" — Ezekiel 20:31 (ASV)

He follows up the same sentiment: it was a monstrous sin that they so harmfully remained fixed in the perverse imitation of their fathers. For they had been drawn away from their lusts by God’s numerous punishments, and then they pretended to be afterwards inclined to obedience. God therefore here says, why, then, by offering your gifts, do you make your sons pass through the fire, and pollute yourselves with all your idols even to this day?

This question concerns something quite incredible and most surprising, since there was no way of reconciling the sufferings of the Israelites in exile with their remaining obstinate in their wickedness.

But the Prophet here again deprives them of that empty pretext with which they covered themselves in offering their gifts. He grants them what was true, yet, at the same time, he objects that they passed their sons through the fire, and were polluted in all their idols. He adds, finally, shall I be inquired of by you? I have explained that clause elsewhere, which is now repeated for the third time.

Many take it in a different sense: that God will not see fit to answer them anymore. But, in my opinion, He simply reproaches their treachery, because when they approached the Prophet, they wished to blind his eyes. Shall I, says He, be inquired of by you? For דרש, deresh, means to seek, and also to achieve the goal of that search, which occurs when the one asked responds, and the one sought presents himself.

But here God simply shows that they do not come with a sincere intention and that nothing was required of them except to seek Him. However, because that was almost incredible, He therefore swears that they were simply hypocritical in pretending to true piety.

They did this by humbly appealing to the Prophet for an answer in God’s name, and then contemptuously deriding it, impiously and wickedly using His name, and thus profaning it.

Prayer:

Grant, Almighty God, since You do not cease Your daily exhortations to repentance, but show forbearance towards us, and bear with us, while You correct us by Your word and Your punishments, that we may not remain obstinate, but may learn to submit ourselves to You. Grant, I pray You, that we may not offer ourselves as Your disciples with false repentance, but be so sincerely and wholeheartedly devoted to You, that we may desire nothing else than to progress more and more in the knowledge of Your heavenly doctrine, until at last we enjoy that full light which we hope for through our Lord Jesus Christ. — Amen.