John Gill Commentary


John Gill Commentary
"And I said unto them, Cast ye away every man the abominations of his eyes, and defile not yourselves with the idols of Egypt; I am Jehovah your God." — Ezekiel 20:7 (ASV)
Then I said to them
Having promised and swore to do such great and good things for them; which must lay them under an obligation to regard what he should command them: promises and blessings of goodness are great incentives to duty, and lay under great obligation to it.
cast you away every man the abominations of his eyes ;
which should be so, meaning idols; but which his eyes were taken with, and were lifted up to, as his gods; though they ought to have been rejected with the utmost abhorrence, as abominable.
and defile not yourselves with the idols of Egypt ;
their "dunghill gods", as the word F6 signifies; which to worship, as it was an abomination to God, was defiling to themselves; yet these they were fond of, and prone to worship them; their eyes and their hearts were after them; and they needed such cautions and instructions as these, backed with the following strong reason against such idolatry.
I [am] the Lord your God ;
their Creator and Benefactor, their covenant God; the only Lord God, and whom only they ought to serve and worship; to whom they were under ten thousand obligations; and who was infinitely above all the idols of Egypt.