Ezekiel 14:23

Eze 14:23 And they shall comfort you, when ye see their ways and their doings: and ye shall know that I have not done without cause all that I have done in it, saith the Lord GOD.

Ver. 23. And they shall comfort,] i.e., Quiet and qualify your spirits.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Eze_14:23

Ye shall know that I have not done without cause all that I have done in it, saith the Lord God.

Waiting for Gods vindication

I. The truths doubted. In all ages, as in our own, men have doubted the goodness and justice of God, and have murmured at His acts. They reject consolation, and charge Jehovah with cruelty. Speak of the sufferings of Jesus for us, and the agnostic declares that is simply another example of injustice.

II. Causes of scepticism. Ask for a reason of doubt, and the rationalist asserts that pain contradicts either the goodness or the power of the Divine Being. But reasons given are not always causes. Grief is selfish, and tears blind us. Most people in trouble are like a ship directed by a careless captain, and left with full canvas when the tempest bursts upon it. We sink because we are not prepared for gales. Men indulge false hopes, refuse all warnings, expect all things but death, and when the end comes they cry out that they have been wronged. Custom makes them regard a loan as a possession, and they call restoration robbery.

III. The futility of doubt. Of what use is doubt of the fundamental truths of Christianity? How does it work? A sinner suffering penalty is hardened by doubt of Gods justice, and discouraged from repentance by question of His mercy. A saint in agony and near to death is plunged in deeper darkness by doubt of all that remains to her. Doubt confirms a transgressor, and robs the holy of consolation. To whom, then, is it good?

IV. Comfort in Gods truth. If we could look at sin in its hideous deformity, its deep guilt, its inhuman effects, with sound vision, we mould be slow to complain. If God did not punish moral evil we could not respect Him, and if He permitted wrong to go uncorrected the holy could not hope. Haste and impatience hide truth from us. If we could see the results of suffering in character we might be consoled. History is an account of the martyrdom of man. But martyrs have not complained. They have preferred truth, beauty, goodness to the alternatives, and have not regretted the price. Can we confide in God and wait? And while you wait, be not idle. There are works meet for repentance. Gods winds are hard to face as head winds, but wondrously helpful to those who will sail with them. The Divine purpose works toward correction of evil and edification of good. Build with God, and you will have naught to tear down. (C. R. Henderson, D. D.)

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The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

they shall comfort you--not in words, but by your recognizing in their manifest guilt, that God had not been unjustly severe to them and the city.

This chapter represents, in the way of a brief introduction, what the sixteenth chapter details minutely.

Next: Ezekiel Chapter 15

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 23. Ye shall know that I have not done without cause] There is no part of the conduct of God towards man that is not dictated by the purest principles of justice, equity, and truth. He does nothing but what is right; and whatever is right to be done, that ought to be done. In God's justice there is no severity; in God's mercy there is no caprice. He alone doth all things well; for he is the Fountain of justice and mercy.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

He now puts the verb for comforting in the third person, but in the same sense, because after the Jews shall have been led captive, they will bear sure and special marks of God’s justice against their sins. This, then, is the consolation, as I explained it yesterday, while the exiles acknowledge that cruelty cannot be ascribed to God, as if he had exceeded moderation in exacting punishment; for the desperate wickedness of the people demanded it. But this passage contains a useful doctrine, since we collect from it that we are never tranquil in our minds unless when the greatest equity and justice appears in God’s judgments, and become present to our minds. As long, therefore, as we do not acknowledge God to be severe in just cases, our minds must necessarily be disturbed and disarranged: hence the word “consolation” is opposed to those turbulent thoughts. But since nothing is more miserable than to be distracted and drawn hither and thither, and to be anxiously disturbed, let us learn that those profit most who acquiesce in God’s judgments, although they do not perceive the reason of them, yet modestly adore them. But when God shows why he treats either us or others so severely, this is a special favor, since he offers us material for joy and tranquillity. Let us proceed.

John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.

They that survive the siege, famine, and ruin of Jerusalem, and are brought to Babylon,

shall comfort you; either confessing their faults in not doing as you had done, justifying the wise course they took who yielded, condemning the folly of hardening themselves against God, his judgments, and his prophets; or be matter of comfort, affording to you just ground of comforting yourselves.

When ye see their ways: understand it in the effects of it upon the ruined Jews; or, in the relation which they will make both of their sins and sufferings in the land of Canaan.

Ye, you of the first captivity, you that obeyed my voice, and submitted to the Babylonian yoke,

shall know, be fully satisfied, that I have had but too much cause, and most just reason, for all that I have done against Jerusalem and its land, and inhabitants of both; you shall know my hand, and as you feel the weight, so you shall see the justice of it too against them, and the mercy of it towards you.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Purpose in providence.

I GOD MAY APPEAR TO ACT WITHOUT CAUSE. We cannot discover design in all the movements of nature so easily as we may detect this in its structure. Though we may be startled at times by the aptness of the providential overruling of history, too often we are perplexed, dismayed, confounded. The wicked man flourishes like a green bay tree, and the good man is persecuted or perishes in a vain conflict with adverse circumstances. Psalmists of old noticed this familiar fact, and grieved over it. (e.g. Psa_17:10) We must be prepared to expect mystery in nature and providence, since the experience of the past pellets to the very same difficulties which puzzle and perplex us when they suddenly confront us. "Lo, these are but the outskirts of his ways: and how small a whisper do we hear of him! But the thunder of his power who can understand?". (Job_26:14)

II GOD DOES NOT ACT WITHOUT CAUSE.

1. The failure to discover a cause is no proof that it does not exist. We cannot limit the range of existence to the scope of our knowledge. There are hidden physical causes which the most searching scientific analysis has failed to trace: why may there not be also hidden final causes, deep purposes of God, which no mind of man can reach?

2. The proved purpose of God in known regions suggests the existence of a like purpose in unknown regions. We can trace more purpose in creation than in providence; but since the same God rules over both, it is to be presumed that the spirit of design which pervades the one runs through the other. We know that God has mind, and that he exercises what with us would be called forethought. Moreover, it is impossible to suppose that his principal dealings with his own children will be aimless when his less momentous works are instinct with purpose.

3. The righteousness and love of God make it certain that he does not act without a cause. Reckless action is morally defective. Ethics bears directly on motive and purpose. A just God must have a righteous object with which to act. The love of God emphasizes the assurance of purpose in providence, for no one would treat those dear to him with heedless indifference. This is especially applicable to the infliction of chastisement. A just and merciful God cannot send chastisement without adequate cause.

III THE CAUSE OF GOD"S ACTION WILL RE ULTIMATELY DECLARED. It is impossible for us to see it yet, for we cannot look beyond the grave, nor can we scale the heights of Divine thought in the infancy of our spiritual experience. The schoolboy cannot see the utility of all his lessons. But if he has been well taught in boyhood, when he is a man he will look back on the hard training with appreciative satisfaction, and will therefore order a similar process for his children. It would not be well for us to see the end yet, for we must be trained by faith. But earthly experience often throws back light on dark passages of life, and they then flash into a new meaning which calls forth gratitude as well as wonder. Beyond this world the fuller explanation will come. With the discovery of the hidden cause there will be ample consolation. The revelation of a good purpose in chastisement is its appropriate consolation. (2Co_4:17)

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Comfort you - That is, you will be comforted, when you compare their case with your own: when they tell you how righteous God was, in bringing these judgments upon them. This will reconcile you to the justice of God, in thus punishing his own people, and to the goodness of God, who now appeared to have had kind intentions in all.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.