Ezekiel 23:45

Eze 23:45 And the righteous men, they shall judge them after the manner of adulteresses, and after the manner of women that shed blood; because they [are] adulteresses, and blood [is] in their hands.

Ver. 45. And the righteous men.] So the Chaldees are called, because less wicked than the Jews (as the Scythians were better than the Athenians, and now the Indians than the Spaniards), and because they executed the righteous sentence of God upon those flagitious Jews.

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.

The judgment to be executed by the hands of their allies.

Eze 23:45

The righteous men - Or, righteous men. The allies are so called as the instruments of God’s righteous judgments.

Eze 23:48

To cease - Because they are stricken and consumed. Compare marginal reference.

All women - i. e., all countries.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Eze 23:45-49. And the righteous men, they shall judge them — All just judges, yea, all men that have any sense of common honesty, will condemn their conduct, and pronounce them deserving of the punishment of adulteresses and murderers. Or, as others interpret the words, “As upright magistrates used to condemn and execute judgment upon adulterers and murderers, so did the prophets, in the name of God, denounce sentence against Jerusalem and Samaria; and even the heathen princes, who executed the sentence, were more righteous than the apostate sufferers.” — Scott. I will bring a company upon them, &c. — This is spoken of the Babylonians, who were to plunder and carry away a great part of the inhabitants of Jerusalem. And the company shall stone them with stones, and despatch them with swords — Stoning was the punishment of adulterers, and putting to death with the sword that of murderers. The Babylonian army might be properly said to be the executioners of both these punishments upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, as, without doubt, they killed many of them during the siege by the stones they cast from their engines, and slew many by the sword when they took the city by assault. Thus will I cause lewdness to cease, &c. — Thus will I put an end to idolatry in the Jewish nation. That all women may be taught not to do after your lewdness — That is, that all nations may dread defiling themselves with the guilt of your idolatries. For as the kingdoms of Israel and Judah are here described as two women, therefore, by all women here must be meant all nations. And ye shall bear the sins of your idols — Ye shall bear the punishment due to your sins of idolatry. To bear sin, or iniquity, is an expression often used in the Scriptures to signify undergoing the punishment due to it.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

That is, worthy of death, read Ezek. 16:38.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

the righteous men--the Chaldeans; the executioners of God's righteous vengeance (Eze 16:38), not that they were "righteous" in themselves (Hab 1:3, Hab 1:12-13).

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 45. And the righteous men] אנשים צדיקים anashim tsaddikim. The Chaldeans, thus called because they are appointed by God to execute judgment on these criminals.

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

(45) The righteous men.—That is, men to whom the judgment of righteousness is committed.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

45–49. Judgment on the adulterous women

45. the righteous] righteous men. The prophet carries on the figure of the punishment of adulteresses. They are judged by righteous men. He has not in his mind the nations, the actual executors of judgment in the case of Israel. The word “righteous” throws no light on Isa_49:24.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And the righteous men,.... Some understand this of the prophets, who were really righteous men; and foretold the righteous judgments of God that should come upon the idolatrous Jews, which was a judging them: others, of righteous men in general, who will one and all agree that persons guilty of such crimes ought to suffer the punishment adequate to them, and usually inflicted on such; but rather the Babylonians are here meant; who, though not righteous in themselves, or truly so, yet were so in comparison of the wicked Jews, who had a divine revelation, and knew better than to commit such idolatries; whereas these were Gentiles that knew not God, nor his will. So the Targum,

"and righteous men in respect (or comparison) of them;''

that is, of Israel and Judah; and they may be also called so, because they were the executioners of justice, the instruments of inflicting God's righteous judgments on the Jews; and, among other things, for their perfidy and treachery to them; so that they would appear just in the eyes of other nations for treating them as they did:

they shall judge them after the manner of adulteresses, and after the manner of women that shed blood; that is, according to the law concerning such persons; and shall condemn them to suffer the punishment denounced on such, and shall execute it on them:

because they are adulteresses, the blood is in their hands; are guilty, not only of corporeal uncleanness, but of spiritual adultery; that is, idolatry; and of the murder of their prophets and righteous men, and even of their own children sacrificed to idols; than which nothing can be more unnatural and barbarous for women to do.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Just, compared with the Jews, whom they shall chastise. (Calmet)

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

Righteous men; men that kept the law of their God, for some such there were about Aholibah herself; or prophets, such as Jeremiah and Ezekiel, and some few more: or else the Babylonians, who in the present controversy between Jerusalem and its king on the one part, and Nebuchadnezzar and the Babylonians on the other part, were comparatively the righteous men.

After the manner of adulteresses; which was, to be put to death by stoning, Lev 20:10; and murder was punished with death.

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

45. Righteous men; they shall judge them — As righteous men would execute lawful punishment upon such adulteresses, stoning them with stones (Lev_20:10; Deu_22:22; Deu_22:24), so a company of God’s executioners shall come upon Jerusalem and Samaria and they shall be removed (literally, tossed to and fro), spoiled, stoned, destroyed with fire and sword (Eze_5:2; Eze_6:4-10; Eze_16:40-41). The result shall be a world-wide warning against idolatry and its complete extermination in Israel (Eze_23:48-49). The influence of this chapter is seen throughout all Jewish literature. Take for example, this pathetic extract from the Hebrew Divan of R. Judah Halevy: —

O cup of woe! Give pause! Give breathing space!

My veins and soul are full of bitterness. I think on Aholah —

I drink thy cup; On Aholibah — then I drain its dregs.

O Zion, “perfect beauty,” grace and love

Of old thou bindest on thee — yea, the souls

Of sages, too, are bound up in thy life,

These gladden in thy weal, these wail thy woe,

These weep thy ruin. Still from captive pit

Toward thee they yearn, and toward thy sacred gates

Each from his place they bow them down in prayer.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

The righteous men are in effect the ministers of God"s wrath. The doom comes at last on both the sisters, who are murderers as well as adulteresses. They shall suffer the punishment of stoning which the Law commanded (Lev_20:10; Deu_22:22, Deu_22:24; Joh_8:5) and after that their bodies were to be hacked to pieces. The result of that judgment would be that all women should learn not to do after their lewdness, i.e. that idolatry should cease from being the sin of the cities of Israel.

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

Righteous men - Men that keep the law of their God.

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

And righteous men Judges, the princes of the king of Babylon and the king of Assyria. But Jonathan renders: righteous, as compared to them. According to the deeds of these harlots, the nations are more righteous than they.

the judgment of adulteresses, etc. as is delineated further.

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.