John Gill Commentary Ezekiel 14

Then came certain, of the elders of Israel unto me
The Syriac version adds, "to consult the Lord"; by the prophet. These, according to Kimchi, were the elders of the captivity, the heads of the captives that were now in Babylon with Ezekiel: but there are others that think they were some that came from Jerusalem to Babylon on some business or another; and having heard much of the prophet, came to visit him, and to hear his prophecies, and inquire of the Lord by him:

and sat before me ;
silent and pensive, as persons in anxiety and distress; or as hearers of him, for sitting is a hearing gesture; they sat and heard with great attention, gravity, and seriousness, with seeming affection and reverence; and all this was not in a visionary way, but was a real fact; see (Ezekiel 33:31Ezekiel 33:32).

And the word of the Lord came to me
While the elders were sitting before him, and whispered secretly and powerfully the following things in his ears: saying ;
as follows:

Son of man, these men have set up their idols in their heart , &c.] Though they look so grave and demure, seem so devout and religious, and hear with so much attention and reverence, and express such a desire of consulting me by you, they are no other than idolaters; and though they are at such a distance from their native place, and have not their idols with them, yet they have them in their fancy and imagination, and their hearts are after them, and are set upon them; these engross their affections, they are near and dear unto them, notwithstanding all their pretensions: or, they "have caused their idols to ascend upon their heart" ^F16 ; their hearts are the altars on which they worship them, and the throne on which they have placed them; they are held in the highest esteem by them, and have the greatest honours done them, and have the ascendant over them; even their "dunghill" gods, as the word ^F17 signifies; though they are but dung, filthy and abominable, these they lay upon their hearts; and what else is man's righteousness, when made an idol of, trusted to, and depended on? it is no other, as the apostle says, than "loss" and "dung", (Philippians 3:8) ; and so every carnal lust that is gratified and indulged is no other than an idol, or a dunghill god, set up in the heart:

and put the stumbling block of their iniquity before their face ; whenever they had an opportunity of so doing; for their hearts were not only inwardly affected to idols, but they outwardly worshipped them; set them before them, and bowed the knee to them, and prayed: and these idols are called "the stumbling block of their iniquity", because by worshipping these they fell into sin, and so into ruin; they were the occasion of their sin, and of their punishment; they stumbled at them, and fell, even though they were before their eyes; nay, they set them themselves before their face, which shows their obstinacy and resolution to continue in idolatry, though it would be their ruin:

should I be inquired of at all by them ? suffer them to come near me, and put a question to me, or be consulted by them through you? no, I will not: or, "am I seriously inquired of by them?" so some ^F18 render the words; no, I am not; or, "being asked, shall I answer them?" so the Targum and Vulgate Latin version: or, "answering shall I answer them" ^F19 ? no, I will not, they deserve no answer from me; they shall have none other of me than such an one as follows.

FOOTNOTES:

• F16: (Mbl le Mhylwlg wleh) "ascendere fecerunt idola sua in, [vel] super cor suum", Pagninus, Montanus, Calvin.
• F17: (Mhylwlg) "stercoreos deos suos", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator; "stercora sua", Cocceius; "stercora ipsorum", Starckius.
• F18: (Mhl vrda vrdah) "an [igitur serio] interrogor ab eis?" Piscator.
• F19: "An respondeudo respondebo illis?" Starckius. So Sept. Ar.

Therefore speak unto them, and say unto them
That is, speak unto them as a prophet, and as from the Lord, and say what follows; so the Targum, ``prophesy unto them and say unto them;''

thus saith the Lord God, every man of the house of Israel, that setteth up his idols in his heart, and putteth the stumbling block of his iniquity before his face;
let him be who he will, one in public office, an elder of Israel, or a private person; no respect will be had, no distinction made, nor favour shown; being an idolater in heart and practice, secretly and openly, he shall bear the punishment of his sin:

and cometh to the prophet:
the Prophet Ezekiel, as the elders of Israel now did, or any other prophet of the Lord: the Vulgate Latin version adds, "inquiring of me by him"; expecting to have an answer, and one according to their wishes:

I the Lord will answer him that cometh;
that cometh to the prophet; or, as the Targum, ``that cometh to ask instruction of me:'' here is a various reading, a "Keri" and a "Cetib"; we follow the Keri, or marginal reading, (ab) , "that cometh"; and so does the Targum; but the "Cetib", or written text, is (hb) , "in it", thus; "I the Lord will answer him in it" ^F20 ; in the question he puts to the prophet, or to the Lord by him; or in that time, immediately; but not with smooth things, as he expects, but with terrible things in righteousness; not in a way of grace and mercy, but in a way of judgment; not as he desires, but as he deserves:

according to the multitude of his idols;
in proportion to the number of his gods, and his idolatrous actions, shall the answer or punishment be: or these words may be connected with the word cometh, and be read thus, "that cometh with the multitude of his idols" ^F21 ; with his heart full of idols, set up there; which is an instance of his hypocrisy, seen and detected by the Lord; and of his impudence, in daring to come unto him in such a manner; and of his folly, to expect a gracious answer from the Lord, this being his case.

The Targum understands it quite otherwise, as if the answer the Lord would give would be a kind and agreeable one, paraphrasing this clause thus, ``although he is mixed (implicated or entangled) in the multitude of the worship of his idols.''

FOOTNOTES:

• F20: "Eodem ^F o tempore", Piscator; "in ea re", Cocceius, Starckius.
• F21: (wylwlg bwrb ab) "ipsi venienti in multitudine idolorum suorum", Pagninus, Montanus.

That I may take the house of Israel in their own heart By which they are ensnared, and drawn aside to their ruin; being given up to strong delusions, to believe a lie, and worship idols; God threatening to answer them by righteous judgments, and thereby take the wickedness, the hypocrisy, and idolatry, that were in their hearts, and expose and make it manifest unto others; or, by punishing them, to draw out the corruption and sin that were in them, that it might be seen what a wicked people they were. The Targum interprets the text in another way, ``that I may bring near the house of Israel, and put repentance into their hearts;''

because they are all estranged from me through their idols ; they grew shy of God and his worship, when they fell into idolatry. Alienation from God, from the life of God, from the law of God, from the worship of God, and of the affections from him, is owing to some idol or another set up in the heart, or before the eye; whatever is worshipped besides God, or gains the ascendant in the heart, alienates from him; and God will not admit of a rival, he cannot and will not bear it; and for this reason he inflicts punishment, or answers in a terrible way.