Ezekiel 45:9

We have here some general rules of justice laid down both for prince and people, the rules of distributive and commutative justice; for godliness without honesty is but a form of godliness, will neither please God nor avail to the benefit of any people. Be it therefore enacted, by the authority of the church's King and God, 1. That princes do not oppress their subjects, but duly and faithfully administer justice among them (Eze 45:9): "Let it suffice you, O princes of Israel! that you have been oppressive to the people and have enriched yourselves by spoil and violence, that you have so long fleeced the flock instead of feeding them, and henceforward do so no more." Note, Even princes and great men that have long done amiss must at length think it time, high time, to reform and amend; for no prescription will justify a wrong. Instead of saying that they have been long accustomed to oppress, and therefore may persist in it, for the custom will bear them out, they should say that they have been long accustomed to it and therefore, as here, Let the time pass suffice, and let them now remove violence and spoil; let them drop wrongful demands, cancel wrongful usages, and turn out those from employments under them that do violence. Let them take away their exactions, ease their subjects of those taxes which they find lie heavily upon them, and let them execute judgment and justice according to the law, as the duty of their place requires. Note, All princes, but especially the princes of Israel, are concerned to do justice; for of their people God says, They are my people, and they in a special manner rule for God. 2. That one neighbour do not cheat another in commerce (Eze 45:10): You shall have just balances, in which to weigh both money and goods, a just ephah for dry measure of corn and flour, a just bath for the measure of liquids, wine, and oil; and the ephah and bath shall be one measure, the tenth part of a chomer, or cor, Eze 45:11. So that the ephah and bath contained (as the learned Dr. Cumberland has computed) seven wine gallons and four pints, and something more. An omer was but the tenth part of an ephah (Exo 16:36) and the one hundredth part of a chomer, or homer, and contained about six pints. The shekel is here settled (Eze 45:13); it is twenty jerahs, just half a Roman ounce, in our money 2s. 4 1/4d. and almost the eighth part of a farthing, as the aforesaid learned man exactly computes it. By the shekels the maneh, or pound, was reckoned, which, when it was set for a mere weight (says bishop Cumberland), without respect to coinage, contained just 100 shekels, as appears by comparing Kg1 10:17, where it is said three manehs, or pounds, of gold, went to one shield, with the parallel place, Ch2 9:16, where it is said 300 shekels of gold went to one shield. But when the maneh is set for a sum of money or coin it contains but sixty shekels, as appears here, where twenty shekels, twenty-five shekels, and fifteen shekels, which in all make sixty, shall be the maneh. But it is thus reckoned because they had one piece of money that weighed twenty shekels, another twenty-five, another fifteen, all of which made up one pound, as a learned writer here observes. Note, It concerns God's Israel to be very honest and just in all their dealings, very punctual and exact in rendering to all their due, and very cautious to do wrong to none, because otherwise they spoil the acceptableness of their profession with God and the reputation of it before men.

Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

(9) Take away your exactions.—Eze_45:9-12 are an exhortation to the princes to observe justice in all their dealings. (Comp. Jer_22:3.) “Exaction” is, literally, as in the margin, expulsion, or ejection, with allusion to such cases as 1Ki_21:1-16. In the following verses the exhortation to justice is extended to the whole people. (Comp. Lev_19:35-36; Deu_25:13-15.)

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

9. take away your exactions] Lit. remove your expulsions from my people. Ref. probably to unjust extrusion of persons from their possessions, of which the early prophets often complain, Isa_5:8; Mic_2:9; Mic_3:2-3, and the story of Naboth, 1 Kings 21.

9–17. The dues to be given the prince, and his obligations to provide the materials for the ritual.

Eze_45:9 seq. The former unjust and irregular exactions of the princes shall cease. These exactions had not only been oppressive in their nature, but unjust and arbitrary from want of a fixed standard in weights, measures and currency.

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.

Eze 45:9 Thus saith the Lord GOD; Let it suffice you, O princes of Israel: remove violence and spoil, and execute judgment and justice, take away your exactions from my people, saith the Lord GOD.

Ver. 9. Let it suffice you.] Be content with your double portion, your so large a lot; and that ye may be so, hear the laws that I lay upon you: remove violence and spoil, execute judgment and justice; take away your exactions, &c.; see that ye have just balances and a just ephah. Let these things be done, or you will be quickly undone. Is it not enough to be above men, but you must needs be above mankind, as those princes would be that would not be under the law?

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 45:9-12. Let it suffice, O ye princes of Israel — This is a reproof of the oppressions of the former kings and their chief officers. The title of princes of Israel is to be understood of such princes as the Jews afterward had of the Asmonæan race; for there were no more princes to reign of the tribe of Judah till Christ came. Ye shall have just balances — Ye shall take care that there be no deceit in private trade: ye shall provide just measures, both for buying and selling, both dry things and liquid: for the ephah was the measure of dry things, as the bath was of liquid. The homer was about ten bushels, which amounts to about eighty gallons in liquid things. And the shekel shall be twenty gerahs. — This is made the standard of the shekel, Exo 30:13, which confutes the common opinion, that the weights of the sanctuary were double to those of common use. The shekel is usually valued at 2 Samuel 6 d. of our money; but some suppose it to be in value 2 Samuel 4½d. of our money, and a little over. Twenty shekels, five and twenty, fifteen shall be your maneh — Maneh is the same with the Greek μνα, and the Latin mina, being both derived from it. A maneh, or mina, consists of sixty shekels, that is, thirty ounces of silver; which, reckoning every shekel at 2 Samuel 6 d. value, amounts to 7l. 10s. The dividing the maneh into twenty, twenty- five, and fifteen shekels, supposes there were coins of these several values, which, taken all together, were to be of the same weight with the mina.

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

The Prophet showeth that the heads must be first reformed afore any good order can be established among the people.

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

Verse 9. Take away your exactions from my people] This is the voice of God to all the rulers of the earth.

Take away your exactions; do not oppress the people; they are mine. Abolish all oppressive taxes.

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

Thus saith the Lord, let it suffice you, O princes of Israel,.... Christian kings and princes, for such there shall be in those times; and who will have large and ample salaries provided for them, as they should have to support their dignity; and with which they should be content, as they will be, and not encroach upon the properties of their subjects:

remove violence and spoil; from your administration; the sense is, do not use violence, and exercise rapine and spoil, let these be far from you; seize not on the goods of your subjects, or spoil them of them by heavy taxes and impositions, or by vexatious lawsuits, and unjust sentences:

and execute judgment and justice; between men; let everyone enjoy his own property; and when any matter of controversy arises about it, fairly hear and examine the case, and do justice:

take away your exactions from my people, saith the Lord; such as had been exacted of them in former times by tyrannical and unjust princes: or, "your expulsions" (b); driving them from their houses, estates, fields, and vineyards; either by taking them away from them, and annexing them to their own, as Ahab did; or by levying such taxes upon them they could not pay, and so were obliged to leave their inheritances and possessions. This, and some following verses, contain rules for regulating the civil state of the people of God in the latter day; which did not take place upon the Jews' return from Babylon, as appears from Neh 5:15 but will be strictly observed by Christian princes in the latter day glory; see Isa 40:17.

(b) "delulsiones vestras", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator, Polanus; "expulsiones vestras", Cocceius, Starckius.

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

The princes are exhorted to execute judgment, and abstain from “exaction” (literally “ejection”) such as that of Naboth by Ahab 1Ki 21:19.

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

Confines: encroach not. (Calmet) --- Hebrew and Septuagint, "take away your oppressions;" (Haydock) Chaldean, "scandals." (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).

Princes are here in God’s name, and by advice from him he made them princes, counselled, exhorted, and commanded.

Let it suffice; be content, aim not at more: he who gave no more can make this enough, and he will curse and blast what you indirectly, and by sinful, oppressive crafts, wrest from others.

Remove violence; put it far from yourselves, do not you use it, and so discountenance in others, that neither common subjects dare violate one another, nor your officers violate any of them.

Spoil; either the same as violence, or the effect of it, violent courses; rob the oppressed and spoil them.

Execute judgment; judge righteously, and they look the sentence be executed, for terror to the unjust, and relief of the oppressed.

And justice: this is added for emphasis, though the same thing.

Exactions; heavy taxes and impositions on estates or trade.

My people; whom I must, if you will not, right.

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

The Prince's Dues and Obligations

The oppressive exactions of the former rulers were to be unknown in the restored Israel. Weights and measures were to be just and correct. The prince was to receive from the people a sixtieth of their wheat and barley, a hundredth part of their oil, and one in two hundred of their flocks. Out of these supplies the prince was to provide all the regular sacrifices for the Temple.

10. The ephah (dry measure) and the bath (liquid measure) were each the tenth of an homer.

12. Twenty shekels.. maneh] read with LXX, 'five (shekels) shall be five, and ten shekels ten, and fifty shekels shall be your maneh'. A shekel was 20 gerahs, and a maneh 50 shekels or 1,000 gerahs.

13. 1 in 60: see Eze_45:10.

14. Cor] equivalent to 'homer'. The proportion is 1 in 100.

J. R. Dummelow, A Commentary on the Holy Bible (Macmillan, 1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

9. Take away your exactions — Or, relieve my people from your [unjust] ejectments (Toy). The history of Israel is full of the oppression of the princes (see Eze_22:25; Ezekiel 34; 1Ki_12:4-11; 2Ki_23:25; Jer_22:17), and the expulsion of the owners from their property (Isa_5:8; Mic_2:9; Mic_3:3).

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

Vers. 9-17. The oblations of the people to the prince for the sanctuary.

In continuation of the foregoing thought, the princes of Israel first are reminded that whatever they should obtain from the people for the sanctuary was not to be extorted from them by violence and spoil (comp. Eze_7:11, 23 8:17; Jer_6:7 Jer_20:8; Hab_1:3) or by exactions literally, expulsions, or drivings of persons out of their possessions, such as had been practiced on Naboth by Ahab (1Ki 21) but levied with judgment and justice, which, besides, should regulate their whole behavior towards their subjects. (comp. 2Sa_8:15; Jer_23:5 Jer_32:25)

HOMILIES BY J.D. DAVIES Vers. 9-12Religion the parent of morality.

It is certain that God feels an active interest in all the covenants of man. The same authority that requires love to God requires love for our neighbors, equal in strength to love for self. True religion is not sublimely indifferent to the details of home and mercantile life. It designs to make every home a nursery for the Church, every shop an arena for the victories of faith. Every commercial transaction bears a testimony either for God or against him.

I RELIGION HAS A MESSAGE FOR EVERY RANK OF HUMAN SOCIETY. Like the sun in the heavens, religion exerts the benignest influence on men of every rank and station. It teaches the monarch humility and self-restraint. It teaches princes to live for others. It teaches magistrates the value of equity and justice. It teaches merchants principles of honesty and truthfulness. It cares for the poorest and the meanest among men; inspires them with the spirit of industry; casts a halo of beauty over the lowliest lot. Nothing that appertains to man is too insignificant for the notice of true religion. For every stage in life, from childhood to old age, religion has some kindly ministration. For every circumstance it affords some succor. It superadds dignity to the prince. It gives a kingly bearing to the peasant. It links all classes (when unhindered) in true and blissful harmony. Tyranny on the one hand, and insubordination on the other, are equally obnoxious to religion.

II RELIGION SHEDS ITS INFLUENCE THROUGH EVERY DEPARTMENT OF HUMAN LIFE. We cannot go into any assembly of men for whatever purpose they meet, where we are excused from manifesting the principles and the spirit of true religion. Whether we meet for gaining knowledge, or for industrial toil, or for political action, or for commercial pursuits, religion claims to preside over all our thoughts and plans and deeds. The shop and the mart are capacious fields for the daily exercise of Christian virtues fields exquisitely suited for the growth and ripening of the noblest qualities. Courage can only be developed in presence of strife and peril; so our religious virtues can only be strengthened in an atmosphere of temptation. If a man is not pious and faithful and truthful in his commercial transactions, he will not be pious and faithful anywhere. This is his test; and woe be to the man who succumbs in the strife!

III RELIGION SETS UP STANDARDS FOR ALL HUMAN ACTIONS. "Ye shall have just balances." The shekel and the homer were to be fixed standards. If fraud be allowed to creep into our commercial scales and measures, the fraud will corrupt every transaction. The very heart of the mercantile system will be poisoned. Villany secreted here would spread as from a center to the whole circumference of commerce. It is supremely important that men establish right standards of speech and conduct. If the exchange is to prosper, it must (like the throne) be established in righteousness. Over the portals of every shop, on the beam of every balance, engraved on every coin, ought the maxim to run in largest capitals, "Whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them! D.

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

Let it suffice - Be content, aim not at more.

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

The Portion of the People

v. 9. Thus saith the Lord God, in connecting up this paragraph with the last statement of the previous section, Let it suffice you, O princes of Israel: remove violence and spoil, so that they would no more be guilty of the Oppression formerly practiced, and execute judgment and justice, so as to make righteousness the guiding principle in all their actions; take away your exactions from My people saith the Lord God, for this had been done by expelling lawful possessors from their property, as in the case of Naboth.

v. 10. Ye shall have just balances, for weighing, and a just ephah, for dry measure, and a just hath, a correct measure also for liquids.

v. 11. The ephah and the hath shall be of one measure, of the same cubic content, that the bath may contain the tenth part of an homer and the ephah the tenth part of an homer, the homer thus being the larger standard; the measure thereof shall be after the homer.

v. 12. And the shekel shall be twenty gerahs; twenty shekels, five and twenty shekels, fifteen shekels, shall be your maneh. "The threefold enumeration of shekels, twenty, twenty-five, fifteen, probably refers to coins of different value, representing, respectively, so many shekels, the three collectively making up a maneh. "

v. 13. This is the oblation that ye shall offer, made to the ruler as a gift consecrated to the Lord for purposes of worship: the sixth part of an ephah of an homer of wheat, about ten pints; and ye shall give the sixth part of an ephah of an homer of barley, the same amount of grain in either case.

v. 14. Concerning the ordinance of oil, the regulation concerning the gift of oil, the bath of oil: ye shall offer the tenth part of a bath out of the cor, a homer being equal to about sixty pints, which is an homer of ten baths, for ten baths are an homer;

v. 15. and one lamb out of the flock, out of two hundred, out of the fat pastures of Israel, of the rich blessings given by the Lord, for a meat-offering, and for a burnt offering, and for peace-offerings, also known as thank-offerings, to make reconciliation for them, saith the Lord God, for the making of an atonement for the sins of the people was the chief purpose of the sacrifices. Cf Lev 1:4.

v. 16. All the people of the land shall give this oblation, making it a special point to render it, for the prince in Israel, who would thereby be enabled to provide for the service of worship and also to give evidence of his representation of the people.

v. 17. And it shall be the prince’s part to give burnt offerings, the special duty of his office, and meat-offerings, and drink-offerings, in the feasts, and in the new moons, and in the Sabbaths, in all solemnities, upon all the great festal occasions, of the house of Israel, he furnishing the material for the sacrifices; he shall prepare the sin-offering, and the meat-offering, and the burnt offering, and the peace-offerings to make reconciliation for the house of Israel. In the Church of the New Testament all offerings are gifts of free love to acknowledge the reconciliation made by Jesus Christ.

Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

this is the Lord Yahweh's declaration

Yahweh speaks of himself by name to express the certainty of what he is declaring. See how you translated this in Ezekiel 5:11. AT: "this is what the Lord Yahweh has declared" or "this is what I, the Lord Yahweh, have declared" (See: First, Second, or Third Person)

It is enough for you

"You have done too many bad things" or "You have been acting badly for far too long"

scales

an instrument that was used to weigh things that people sold or bought

so that a bath will be a tenth of a homer

"so that ten baths will be the same amount as a homer"

homer

about 220 liters (See: Biblical Volume)

shekel

about 11 grams (See: Biblical Weight)

gerahs

about 0.55 grams (See: Biblical Weight)

mina

about 660 grams (See: Biblical Weight)

translationWords

Lord Yahweh

just

righteous

people of God

declare

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.

take away your evictions Take away [your practice] of evicting My people from their inherited property.

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.