Book of Ezekiel 30:13–18 in an English manuscript from the early 13th century, MS. Bodl. Or. 62, fol. 59a. A Latin translation appears in the margins with further interlineations above the Hebrew.
It came to pass in the seventh year, in the fifth month, on the tenth day of the month,
that certain of the elders of Israel came to inquire of the Lord, and sat before me. (NKJV)[5]
The opening of chapter 8 has similar wording. The recorded date of the occurrence in chapter 20 would fall in July–August 591 BC,[6] calculated to be August 14, 591 BCE, based on an analysis by German theologian Bernhard Lang.[7]
Verse 4
Will you judge them, son of man, will you judge them?
Then make known to them the abominations of their fathers. (NKJV)[8]
"Will you judge them?" - a recurrent theme, also seen in Ezekiel 22:2 and 23:36.[9]
"Son of man" (Hebrew: בן־אדםḇen-’ā-ḏām): this phrase is used 93 times to address Ezekiel.[10]
"Abomination" (Hebrew plural: תּוֹעֲבֹ֥תtō-‘ă-ḇōṯ; singular: תּוֹעֵבָהtôʻêbah, to-ay-baw'): something loathsome or objectionable, especially for "Jehovah" (Proverbs 3:32; 21:27), "specially used for things belonging to the worship of idols" or idolatrous practices and objects.[11][12]
Verse 5
“Say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord God: “On the day when I chose Israel and raised My hand in an oath to the descendants of the house of Jacob, and made Myself known to them in the land of Egypt, I raised My hand in an oath to them, saying, ‘I am the Lord your God.’"[13]
‘‘6 On that day I raised My hand in an oath to them, to bring them out of the land of Egypt into a land that I had searched out for them, ‘flowing with milk and honey,’ the glory of all lands. 7 Then I said to them, ‘Each of you, throw away the abominations which are before his eyes, and do not defile yourselves with the idols of Egypt. I am the Lord your God.’ But they rebelled against Me and would not obey Me. They did not all cast away the abominations which were before their eyes, nor did they forsake the idols of Egypt. Then I said, ‘I will pour out My fury on them and fulfill My anger against them in the midst of the land of Egypt.’ 9 But I acted for My name’s sake, that it should not be profaned before the Gentiles among whom they were, in whose sight I had made Myself known to them, to bring them out of the land of Egypt. 10 Therefore I made them go out of the land of Egypt and brought them into the wilderness.’’(NKJV)[15]
Scholars have noted that Ezekiel 20:6–10 recounts Israel’s departure from Egypt without mentioning slavery. Gili Kugler argues that this omission reflects an alternative tradition in which Egypt was remembered as the place of God’s revelation and Israel’s initiation as his people, rather than as a house of slavery. In this reading, Israel’s departure is not an act of deliverance from oppression but the outcome of God’s unilateral election and desire to assert his authority.[16]
Verse 29
Then I said to them, "What is this high place to which you go?" So its name is called Bamah to this day.[17]
"Bamah" means "high place". Theologian Andrew B. Davidson suggests that Ezekiel uses "a punning and contemptuous derivation of the word", using what (mah) and go (ba):
What (mah) is the high place whereunto ye go (ba)?"
Whilst he disagrees with the interpretation, Davidson notes that "some have supposed that “go” has the sense of “go in” (e.g. Genesis 38:2: Judah saw there a daughter of a certain Canaanite ... and he married her and went in to her) and that the allusion is to the immoralities practised on the high places".[1]
Verse 35
And I will bring you into the wilderness of the peoples, and there I will plead My case with you face to face.[18]
The "wilderness of the peoples" is alternatively translated as "the wilderness of the nations" (NIV),[19] or "a desert surrounded by nations" (Contemporary English Version).[20] Davidson suggests it refers to "the Syro-Babylonian wilderness, adjoining the peoples among whom they were dispersed",[1] perhaps the modern-day Syrian Desert. Davidson suggests that Ezekiel may have followed Hosea's words here:
↑ The New Oxford Annotated Bible with the Apocrypha, Augmented Third Edition, New Revised Standard Version, Indexed. Michael D. Coogan, Marc Brettler, Carol A. Newsom, Editors. Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA; 2007. pp. 1205-1208 Hebrew Bible. ISBN978-0195288810
↑ Lang, Bernhard (1981) Ezechiel. Darmstadt. Wissenschaftliche Buchgesselschaft, cited in Kee et al 2008, p. 209.
Brown, Francis; Briggs, Charles A.; Driver, S. R. (1994). The Brown-Driver-Briggs Hebrew and English Lexicon (reprinted.). Hendrickson Publishers. ISBN978-1565632066.
Gesenius, H. W. F. (1979). Gesenius' Hebrew and Chaldee Lexicon to the Old Testament Scriptures: Numerically Coded to Strong's Exhaustive Concordance, with an English Index. Translated by Tregelles, Samuel Prideaux (7thed.). Baker Book House.
Kee, Howard Clark; Meyers, Eric M.; Rogerson, John; Levine, Amy-Jill; Saldarini, Anthony J. (2008). Chilton, Bruce (ed.). The Cambridge Companion to the Bible (2, reviseded.). Cambridge University Press. ISBN9780521691406.
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