Ezekiel 24:21

Eze 24:21 Speak unto the house of Israel, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I will profane my sanctuary, the excellency of your strength, the desire of your eyes, and that which your soul pitieth; and your sons and your daughters whom ye have left shall fall by the sword.

Ver. 21. Behold, I will profane my sanctuary.] I will put it into the hands of profane persons to be spoiled and polluted, for a punishment of your manifold pollutions of it.

The excellency of your strength.] The Jews had too high a conceit of, and did put too much confidence in, their temple, which therefore they called, as here, the "excellency of their strength," the "desire of their eyes," and that which their soul pitied, animarum indulgentiam. "The temple of the Lord!" they cried; but the Lord of the temple they cared not for. {Jer 7:4}

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.

Wherein you boast and delight.

By sending the Chaldeans to destroy it, as Ezek. 7:22.

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

excellency of your strength--(compare Amo 6:8). The object of your pride and confidence (Jer 7:4, Jer 7:10, Jer 7:14).

desire of . . . eyes-- (Psa 27:4). The antitype to Ezekiel's wife (Eze 24:16).

pitieth--loveth, as pity is akin to love: "yearned over."

Profane--an appropriate word. They had profaned the temple with idolatry; God, in just retribution, will profane it with the Chaldean sword, that is, lay it in the dust, as Ezekiel's wife.

sons . . . daughters . . . left--the children left behind in Judea, when the parents were carried away.

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

(21) Profane my sanctuary.—Not merely by its destruction, but by the manner of its destruction, the Gentiles being allowed to enter its most sacred precincts, and carry off in triumph its sacred vessels and treasures. It was in the confidence that God would protect this that the last hope of the Jews lay; He tells them that He will Himself profane it.

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

21. excellency of your strength] i.e. your proud boast, or, your boasted stronghold (Eze_24:25). The temple is referred to.

that which … pitieth] Or, spareth, i.e. holds dear, Eze_36:21; Job_20:13.

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 ye shall do as I have done,.... When his wife died, and as he was ordered by the Lord; the meaning of Which they were now inquiring:

ye shall not cover your lips; as a token of mourning; nor use any other of their country rites and ceremonies, for fear of provoking their enemies, in whose hands they shall be:

nor eat the bread of men; or "of mourners", as the Targum; there shall be none to comfort them, or send bread to them; they shall all be alike mourners.

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

Profane, or esteem it no more, (Haydock) but abandon it to the Gentiles. (Calmet) --- Feareth to lose; or on which it rests, ver. 25. (Haydock)

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).

Now he is commissioned to declare the meaning of that he did.

Speak unto the house of Israel; to them at Babylon by word of mouth, but to them at Jerusalem by letter, or messenger.

Profane my sanctuary; cast off, and put into the hands of heathens, who will regard it no more than any other common building, though it is and hath been long my sanctuary; but you, O Jews, first profaned it with your sins, and now, in my just displeasure against you, I will suffer it to be profaned by the Chaldeans.

The excellency of your strength; so it was whilst God’s presence was there, and whilst the Jews kept it undefiled; it was their confidence, and they trusted in it, though they were fallen from God, Jer 7.

The desire of your eyes; as much your desire as my wife was mine, saith the prophet, most dear to you, as she to me, but this shall be burnt.

Your sons and your daughters; the children which survive to you after these grievous calamities, and in whom you hoped for comfort and posterity, shall die by the conqueror’s sword too, Eze 23:47.

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

21. I will profane my sanctuary — The prophet’s wife symbolizes Jehovah’s sanctuary, and what the desire of his eyes was to Ezekiel that the temple was to Jehovah and to Israel. No thought of woman in ancient or modern literature is more noble than this. All of these expressions show not only what the temple was to the Israelites, but what his wife was to Ezekiel. Among no other ancient people was the home so sacred that such comparisons could have been properly made. As to the light which this chapter throws upon the character of Ezekiel see introduction to chapter and general Introduction, “Ezekiel’s Personality.”

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

The desire of your eyes. There is something exquisitely pathetic in the iteration of the phrase of Ver. 17. To the priest Ezekiel himself, to the people whom he addressed, the temple was as dear as the wife to the husband. It was also "the pride of their power" (Revised Version), the "pity of their soul" (margin). The former phrase comes from Lev_26:19. When that temple should be profaned, when sons and daughters should fall by the sword, then they would do as the prophet had done. They would learn that there is a sorrow which is too deep for tears, something that passeth show. The state which the prophet describes is not one of callousness, or impenitence, or despair. The people shall mourn for their iniquities;" this will be the beginning of repentance. Lev_26:39, 40 was obviously in the prophet"s thoughts. We note that Ver. 24 is the one solitary passage since Eze_1:3 in which Ezekiel names himself. As single acts and gestures had before (Eze_4:1-12) been a sign of what was coming, so now the man himself was to be in that hour of bereavement.

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

Profane - Cast off, and put into the hands of Heathens. The excellency of your strength - So it was while God's presence was there. The desire - As much your desire, as my wife was mine; most dear to you.

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

whom you have left over in Jerusalem, when you went out into exile.

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.