Ezekiel 33:24

Eze 33:24 Son of man, they that inhabit those wastes of the land of Israel speak, saying, Abraham was one, and he inherited the land: but we [are] many; the land is given us for inheritance.

Ver. 24. They that inhabit those wastes of the land of lsrael.] Those poor few now left in the land. {2Ki 25:12; 2Ki 25:22 Jer 40:5-6} Surely they are poor, they are foolish, they have lost the fruit of their affliction; Miserrimi facti sunt et pessimi permanent, as Augustine saith of some in his time, They are nevertheless wicked for being wretched.

Speak.] Bubbles of words. Antiquum obtinent. They are no changelings, not at all crest fallen.

Abraham was one.] {a} And no such one but that we may match him. Thus these proud hypocrites hit up their counter for a thousand pounds, and stand upon their comparisons without all shame or sense.

The land is given to us.] And here we will hold our own, for we are well worthy.

{a} Verba faecis populi recitat. Abrahae se conferre, imo praeferre audebant.

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 33:24. They that inhabit those wastes of the land of Israel — They that are left behind in the land, that is now wasted with fire and sword: see the margin. Speak, saying, Abraham was one, and inherited the land — Had the privilege of dwelling and feeding his flocks in it; as if he had said, ‘If Abraham, being only a single person, had the whole country of Judea given him, there is much greater reason to conclude, that God will preserve the possession of it to us, who are a numerous part of Abraham’s posterity. These men speak after the vain manner of the Jews, who fondly presume that they have a right to all the promises made to Abraham, without considering the vast difference between them and Abraham, both in faith and practice. The appellation of one is given to Abraham in other parts of Scripture, because he was singled out from the rest of his family, to be the original, or head, of the Jewish nation.” — Lowth.

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

Thus the wicked think themselves more worthy to enjoy God’s promises than the Saints of God, to whom they were made: and would bind God to be subject to them, though they would not be bound to him.

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

they that inhabit . . . wastes of . . . Israel--marking the blindness of the fraction of Jews under Gedaliah who, though dwelling amidst regions laid waste by the foe, still cherished hopes of deliverance, and this without repentance.

Abraham was one . . . but we are many--If God gave the land for an inheritance to Abraham, who was but one (Isa 51:2), much more it is given to us, who, though reduced, are still many. If he, with 318 servants, was able to defend himself amid so many foes, much more shall we, so much more numerous, retain our own. The grant of the land was not for his sole use, but for his numerous posterity.

inherited the land--not actually possessed it (Act 7:5), but had the right of dwelling and pasturing his flocks in it [GROTIUS]. The Jews boasted similarly of their Abrahamic descent in Mat 3:9 and Joh 8:39.

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 24. Abraham was one] If he was called to inherit the land when he was alone, and had the whole to himself, why may we not expect to be established here, who are his posterity, and are many? They wished to remain in the land and be happy after the Chaldeans had carried the rest away captives.

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

(24) Inhabit those wastes.—It is said in 2Ki_25:12; 2Ki_25:22; Jer_52:16, that the poor of the people were left in the land for vine-dressers and for husband. men, and that these were joined by fugitive Jews from Moab and Ammon and other places. It is to these that the present part of this prophecy (Eze_33:23-29) is addressed, and it is plain that the murder of Gedaliah, and consequent flight into Egypt, had not yet taken place.

Abraham was one . . . we are many.—The argument used by these people was a simple one: the land was promised to Abraham and his seed in perpetuity. He was but one, and the promise was fulfilled; we, his seed, are many, and it cannot fail us. This disposition to rely upon their descent from Abraham was characteristic of the Jews in all ages (see Mat_3:9; Joh_8:33-39). The same tendency to trust in the external privileges given them is apt to be found in all ages among those whose hearts are alienated from God. These Jews, to avoid the force of the prophet’s reproofs, passed from one subterfuge to another. First it was that God would not abandon His holy city and Temple; then that the judgments were so far in the future that they need cause no present alarm; now, when these warnings had all been fulfilled, they clung to the fact that the land was theirs by promise, forgetting the conditions which had been attached from the first to its enjoyment.

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

24. Regarding those remaining in the land even before the fall of the city, cf. Eze_11:5-12; Eze_11:14-21; Jeremiah 24. Those remaining in the land express their confident hopes. Though reduced in numbers they are still many in comparison of the single individual Abraham. Yet he was multiplied in such a way as to take possession of the land; much more may they hope yet to assert their claims to it. They perhaps hardly argued on mere natural probabilities; they felt themselves the heirs of the promises made to Abraham, and in spite of disasters hoped that Jehovah would fulfil them to them. They display the same temper as the people had always shewn; they have a faith in Jehovah but no knowledge of what Jehovah is (Amo_5:14; Hos_4:1; Jer_4:22; Jer_5:2; Jer_5:4). Another prophet of this age applies the strange history of Abraham and his multiplication to comfort “the few men of Israel” who followed after righteousness, Isa_51:2.

inhabit those wastes] The ruined cities chiefly, Eze_33:27; but cf. Eze_36:4.

the land is given us] Words of confident anticipation.

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.

You trust in it, and think to support yourselves by it, and secure your possession and right of it by that means. So the Targum,

"you stand in your strength:''

ye work abomination; that which is abominable to God, and not fit to be named among men; Jarchi interprets it of sodomy: the word is in the feminine gender, and may be rendered, "ye women work abomination"; referring to that unnatural lust the apostle speaks of, Rom 1:26 so Ben Melech:

and ye defile everyone his neighbour's wife; were guilty of adultery; and which was so common, that scarce any were free from it, and therefore is charged upon the whole body of them:

and shall ye possess the land? such vile creatures as these, guilty of the abominations for which the land formerly spewed out its ancient inhabitants, the Canaanites? and the present possessors might expect the same, as being very unworthy inheritors of it, whatever high thoughts they might have of themselves.

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

Places. He has answered those who despaired, ver. 10. Now he turns to the presumptuous, who expected to be treated like Abraham, though they did not imitate his virtues. (Calmet) --- They perhaps entertained these sentiments before the death of Godolias, thinking to establish themselves in the land. Afterwards the prophet Jeremias could not prevail on them to remain, though God promised them security.

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).

They that inhabit; who were left behind, having either hid themselves, but now come out of their holes, or returned from neighbour countries, whither they fled, or permitted by the conqueror to stay and plant vineyards.

Wastes; places once very fruitful and abounding with people, but now by the spoil of the soldiers emptied of inhabitants. and made as a desolate wilderness.

Speak, saying; thus think and speak; thus with vain reasonings they deceive them. selves.

He inherited the land; our father had hereditary right to all this land when but one, and he multiplied to a great company, and so they possessed the land; we children of Abraham, though diminished, are many, and the Divine goodness will surely appear then, and continue to us both right and possession, and we shall fill the land, and recover our former state and privileges.

Is given us; it was given by promise to us the seed, as well as to our progenitor; nay more, it is given us in possession, we dwell in it, when Abraham had not one foot of it in his possession.

For inheritance; the perpetual inheritance is ours. Thus with vain, fallacious arguments they cheat one another.

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

They that inhabit thou wastes of the land. The utterance that follows was probably the direct result of what Ezekiel heard from the messenger. He it was who reported the boastful claims of those who had been left in the land by the Chaldean armies the "bad figs" of Jeremiah"s parable, the least worthy representatives of the seed of Abraham. the assassins of Gedaliah, (Jer_41:1, Jer_41:2) who in these "waste places," the dens and eaves in which they found a refuge (or, it may be, the phrase describes the condition of the whole country), led the lives of outlaws and bandits. The very words of their boast are reproduced: "Abraham, when he was yet but one, received the premise of inheritance. We are comparatively many, and are left as the true seed of Abraham. (comp. Mat_3:9) The land is ours, and we will take possession of the estates of the exiles.

The right of the many.

The idea seems to be though Abraham was but one man, yet he was promised Canaan; much more, then, must his descendants have a right to the land, since they now form a numerous nation. This plea is urged against the threat that the Jews shall be expelled from their land. It is not difficult to discover its hollowness. But it is propped up by common fallacies against which we need to be on our guard.

I THE PLEA. It stands on two grounds.

1. That children have a right to their fathers property. This is recognized in law and equity. If a man dies intestate, his family inherits his goods as a matter of course. The same is looked for in regard to the special privileges of Divine grace.

2. That numbers multiply rights. If Abraham had a right to the land, much more must a whole nation of his descendants hold that right. This democratic age glories in the rights of numbers. No doubt the people have rights as against privileged monopolists. Thus it may well be urged in an over-populous country, that the people have certain rights in the land, that there must be some limit at least to landlord monopoly. The same democratic feeling passes over to religion. Christ preached to the people, and "the common people heard him gladly". (Mar_12:37) Hence the idea that privilege in religion is transferred from the monopolist to the multitude, from priest to people, from Israel to the world.

II THE FALLACY.

1. The descendants of Abraham may not be his true children. It was a mistake to make much of descent from the great ancestor. That only condemned the more heavily the sins of his unworthy descendants. John the Baptist rebuked this mistake when he told the proud Jews that God was able to raise up children to Abraham from the very stones of the wilderness. (Mat_3:9) St. Paul pointed out that not all who were of the stock of Israel could be accounted the true Israel of God. (Rom_9:6) They are Abraham"s children who inherit Abraham"s faith.

2. Where no right exists, the number of claimants will not create it. The right to Canaan was only conferred by God"s grace, and only held on condition of faithfulness. It could be and it was withdrawn when that condition was broken. The number who claimed the right could not affect the question as to the desert of the people to retain it. No one merits the kingdom of heaven. If millions claim the privileges of the kingdom, the millions have no right to it. The number of sinners creates no fight to have the pardon of sin. If the whole world deserves destruction, the whole world may be destroyed. Its numbers will not save it. If we appeal to God"s grace, that applies to a single individual. Not a sparrow falls to the ground without his notice. He has infinite love for the most obscure of his subjects. Therefore the multiplication of the number of the guilty will not arouse his pity in a new and special manner.

3. Each individual must seek individual grace. We cannot be made citizens of the kingdom of heaven en masse. We must go single file through the strait gate.

4. There is room in the grace of God for the greatest number. The multitude of applicants can never be too great for infinite bounty. The many can claim no rights. But the gospel is for them, not for the few. Christ came to give his life a ransom "for many". (Mat_20:28)

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

They - Who were left behind, now come out of their holes, or returned from neighbouring countries, or permitted by the conqueror to stay and plant vineyards. Wastes - Places once fruitful and abounding with people, but now, made a desolate wilderness. He inherited - Our father had a right to all this land, when but one; we his children though diminished, are many, and the divine goodness will surely continue to us both right and possession. Is given - It was given by promise to us, the seed, as well as to our progenitor; nay more, 'tis given us in possession, whereas Abraham had not one foot of it.

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

Abraham was one This is one of four things that Rabbi Akiva interpreted [in one way] and which his disciple, Rabbi Shimon ben Yochai, did not interpret as he did. Rabbi Shimon interpreted it in this manner: Abraham, who was commanded with only one commandment [namely circumcision], inherited the land. We, then, who have been commanded with many commandments, should surely have the land given to us for an inheritance (Tosefta Sotah 6:7). This is what the prophet answers them.

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.