Ezekiel 5:8

Eze 5:8 Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I, even I, [am] against thee, and will execute judgments in the midst of thee in the sight of the nations.

Ver. 8. Behold, I, even I, am against thee.] Whether thou wilt believe it or not. Thou boldest it unlikely, but shalt find it true, and that I am very serious, not saying these things in terrorem only. Ecce me adversum te venientem, so some render it; Behold I am upon my march against thee, and will punish thee surely, severely, suddenly.

And will execute judgments.] For the non-execution of my judgments in the former sense taken. {as Eze 5:7}

In the sight of the nations.] In whose sight thou hast so sinned, and who will rejoice at thy sufferings.

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.

I, even I--awfully emphatic. I, even I, whom thou thinkest to be asleep, but who am ever reigning as the Omnipotent Avenger of sin, will vindicate My righteous government before the nations by judgments on thee.

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

Now follows the threat, that God was prepared to take vengeance. Behold, I, even, I, am against you The particle גם, gam, “even,” is used as we in French say, yea, even: I, even I. We now see that the repetition is emphatic, as if God asserted a horrible destruction to be hanging over the Jews. For he wishes to inspire them with fear, since he assures them that he will prove an avenger. Though I do not receive Jerome’s comment, for he says, that angels and other ministers of God’s wrath are excluded, because God determined to destroy the Jews by himself. This we know to be false, for he made use of the Assyrians and Chaldeans. Since then those people were his scourges, it follows, that angels and men are not excluded when God pronounces himself an avenger. But he increases the weight of the punishment when he says, I, even I, am he with whom thou shalt have to do Now he adds, I will execute judgments, by which word jurisdiction, as they call it, is intended. What Jerome and those interpreters who follow him affirm is not correct, that by this name God’s justice is asserted, as if he meant, that he would not be cruel in exacting punishment, nor yet unjust nor too rigid. For to execute judgment means merely to exercise jurisdiction, and an earthly judge is said to exercise justice when he sits on his tribunal, even if he perverts justice and equity. This, indeed, cannot be the case with God, although the word allows of it. Besides, there is a suitable antithesis between the doctrinal judgments and the actual ones; God complained that the Jews did not execute his judgments: now he threatens that he himself would execute them, because he will vindicate his law by punishments.

The sum of the whole is that he will execute judgments in the midst of Jerusalem, because he will ascend a tribunal and compel the wicked to plead their cause, and to render an account of their life. God, therefore, then executed his judgments when he manifested his vengeance by means of the Chaldeans, and so famine was a part of his punishment, as well as the sword and the pestilence. For while he delays, he seems to have ceased from his duty, and then the impious indulge themselves as if he had forgotten to execute judgment. Therefore, in opposition to this, he denounces that he would execute judgments: as if he had said, I will appear as judge although you think me asleep. For he says, he will execute judgments in the midst of Jerusalem, before the eyes of the Gentiles, by which assertion he means, that their punishments would be remarkable, and such as might be easily considered by all the nations: for we know that the Gentiles were then blind, for they thought that good and evil happened by chance. But God affirms, that his judgments will be so manifest that the blind will be, as it were, eye-witnesses. Now it follows —

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.

(8) In the sight of the nations.—The conspicuousness of Israel’s position (see under Eze_5:5) made it necessary that the punishment for their failure to keep God’s law should be as public as their sin. All had seen their unfaithfulness; all must see the consequent judgment.

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

8. in the sight of the nations] The nations saw Israel’s wickedness, and they shall also see her judgments, and they shall know that Jehovah is God alone.

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.

Therefore thus saith the Lord God, behold, even I, am against thee,.... Or, "behold, I am against thee, even I" (u); who am the Lord God omnipotent, great King, and a dreadful one; and a terrible thing it is for a people to have the mighty God against them; or for any to fall into the hands of the living God: this is repeated to show that it certainly was so; and that the Lord was set upon it; and determined to come forth against them in the way of his judgments, as follows:

and will execute judgments in the midst of thee, in the sight of the nations; that is, inflict punishments upon them for their disregard to his righteous judgments, which should take place in the midst of them, and consume them all around; and should be so manifest as to be seen by all the nations about them.

(u) "ecce ego ad te, etiam ego", Pagninus, Montanus; "ecce ego contra te, etiam ego", Starckius.

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

Execute judgments - As upon the false gods of Egypt Exo 12:12; Num 33:4.

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

Therefore; it is very just what God doth, he hath cause more than enough given him to do so.

Behold; take notice, and consider me, not as now for you, but against you. You look to the instruments, to the rod, but, behold, I am, even I am, against you, against thee, O Jerusalem.

Will execute judgments; I will act in severities that shall convince you it is my hand that wields the sword. You despised my holy law, my judgments as a rule of life, but you shall now feel my judgments that you shall die under. The Chaldeans will kill you, but I condemn you. They will be cruel, but I will be just in the execution; and who can be for thee, when I will be against thee in this dreadful manner?

In the sight of the nations; as notorious as thy sins, so shall thy punishment be. The very heathen shall see my hand in it, and own my justice.

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

8. Will execute judgments — Rebellion against the righteous decrees of Jehovah concerning right actions and acceptable worship brings upon the nation righteous decrees of punishment. In the Hebrew there is a word play which cannot be rendered into English.

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

Therefore, etc. The conjunction is emphatic. It was because Jerusalem, in her high estate had sinned so conspicuously that her punishment was to be equally conspicuous. (comp. Lam_4:6; Amo_3:2)

Opposed by God.

We are more familiar with the idea of our opposition to God than with that of his opposition to us, because he is long suffering and slow to anger, while we are rebellious and self-willed. But there is a point where infinite patience cannot restrain just wrath; where, indeed, without any conflict of Divine attributes, the very love of God must acquiesce in his resistance to our sinful conduct by stern measures. Then God is against us!

I GOD"S OPPOSITION IS PROVOKED BY MAN"S REBELLION.

1. God is not originally opposed to any of his creatures. "He hateth nothing that he hath made." Nor can we suppose that God turns against his children for reasons of his own apart from their conduct. There is no caprice in the heart of the Immutable. It seems to some men in their deepening adversity, as blow after blow falls upon them, that God has become their enemy. This is a trial to faith; but true faith should survive and cry in the tempest of trouble, "Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him.

2. The cause of Gods opposition lies in men alone. Ours is the change, not his. The Israelites in the wilderness "provoked" him to wrath. As he is always graciously inclined, it always lies with us to determine whether he shall be our Friend or our Enemy. It is fearful to make an Enemy of our best Friend. But can we expect that persistent neglect, deepening into disobedience, and disobedience pushed to the extremity of rebellion, should be regarded with indifference by the Lord of heaven and earth?

II THE OPPOSITION OF GOD IS UNSPEAKABLY DREADFUL. It is dangerous for man to run counter to the will of God; it is fatal for God to rouse himself in opposition to man. The man who falls on the chosen Stone is bruised, but he on whom it falls will be ground to powder. (Mat_21:44) There is in this a Divine activity. The sinner does not suffer only negatively, by privation, by the loss of Divine grace. His doom is more than to be cast into the outer darkness, and to be left there in a God-deserted solitude. That would be bad enough. But it must be remembered that God is active, and is ever making his will felt by his children. If a man swallows arsenic, the poison will work in him by the exercise of its own corrosive properties. In opposing the laws of nature we bring those laws into active play against us. It is like running in face of an express train. The result is incomparably worse than running against a dead wall. The dreadfulness of the Divine opposition thus encountered is only to be measured by the might and energy of God. The very fact that he loves us, instead or mitigating the horror of the opposition, must heighten it, for no plea can soften the blow when love itself acquiesces in it. If a hard master punished we might hope to soften him, but if a God of love is against us there is no further appeal.

III THE DIVINE OPPOSITION IS A LESSON FOR ALL WHO WITNESS IT. The judgments were to be executed "in the sight of the nations." This would add to the humiliation of the Jews. It would be a shock to the self-complacency that was founded on the notion that for the sake of his own honour among the heathen God would uphold his chosen people. That notion was a delusion. God"s honour is not maintained by protecting his people in their sin. It is more manifest in the impartial execution of justice without any rebate on the ground of favouritism. God is not honoured now by the simple security of his Church, but by the purity of it. It is better for the cause of righteousness that fallen Christians should be shamed and cast out, than that they should be petted and spared and their wickedness hushed up. The fall and judgment of the Jews proclaimed to all the world the unbiassed righteousness of God. Certainly, if the chosen people were not spared, no sinners can hope to escape except by the way of deliverance God has made through Christ.

Divine antagonism.

That is a lawless state of society in which every man"s hand is against his neighbour. Yet no observer of human life is insensible to the prevalence of enmity, rivalry, opposition of various kinds, among all communities of men. "There are many adversaries" is a complaint which every man has made in his time. Men become accustomed to this, and regard it as a natural accompaniment of social life. But it is something very different when the almighty and righteous Lord addresses a man or a community, and says, "Behold I, even I, am against thee.

I THE STRANGENESS AND WONDER OF THIS ATTITUDE. That the heathen, who construct the character of their gods upon the lines of their own character, should depict them as hostile, seems natural enough. But that enlightened theists should be surprised at such a representation as that of the text, is a consequence of the conceptions which reason and revelation alike have taught them to form of God. Is not God on our side? Does he not represent himself as favourable to the sons of men using his power for their protection, their deliverance, their aid? How, then, can a merciful and benevolent God be in any sense against us?

II THE EXPLANATION AND REASONABLENESS OF THIS ATTITUDE. It is clear that the Creator and Lord of all cannot be expected to alter the principles of his government in order to accommodate himself to the follies and the caprices of his creatures. If a man throws himself into mid-ocean, or into the crater of a burning volcano, nature is against him, and he must perish. If a man by his own action contracts disease, he must suffer. Gravitation is not to be suspended because a foolhardy fanatic flings himself from a tower. Nor are chemical laws to be abolished because one ignorantly swallows poison. In all such cases, we may say with reverence, "God is against those who act in such and such a manner." Similarly in the moral realm. The spiritual universe is so constituted that men cannot violate moral law without suffering, cannot defy God with impunity. Those who sin must sooner or later learn the fact, which no reasoning of theirs can affect, that God is against them.

III THE IMMEDIATE PURPOSE OF THIS ATTITUDE. It is evident that, if all things were made easy and pleasant for the sinner, if there were no check and no chastisement for his sin, such an arrangement would not be for the sinner"s real good. On the contrary, he would be encouraged to persevere in his evil courses. But the sinner, finding that God is against him, is in many cases by this very fact led to consider his ways. His experience "gives him pause." There follows from this consciousness of punishment the state of mind known as "conviction of sin," and conviction of sin may lead to repentance and to submission. Finding that, by setting himself against God, the sinner sets God against him, he may be led to submission; he may ask himself, "Why should I not have God with me instead of against me?" The beginning of the process may partake of a selfish regard for his own interests, but he may be led on to see something better than this to discern the justice, the propriety, the moral excellence of subjection to and harmony with the will which ever accords with perfect righteousness, wisdom, and love.

IV THE ULTIMATE CONSEQUENCE AND RESULT OF THIS ATTITUDE. No one who reflects upon the character of the God of infinite justice and benevolence can suppose that he can take a pleasure in a posture of antagonism and hostility against anything that he has made, far less against man, whom he created in his own likeness, to show forth his own glory. His aim is ever to bring his intelligent and voluntary creatures into harmony with his own nature; to recover and restore, not to overwhelm with destruction; to bring his children to exclaim, "If God be for us, who can be against as? T.

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

I too You betrayed Me, and I too, behold I am upon you.

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.