Ezekiel 6:13

Eze 6:13 Then shall ye know that I [am] the LORD, when their slain [men] shall be among their idols round about their altars, upon every high hill, in all the tops of the mountains, and under every green tree, and under every thick oak, the place where they did offer sweet savour to all their idols.

Ver. 13. Then shall ye know that I am the Lord.] Vexatio dabit intellectum; smart shall make wit. See Eze 6:10. Four times in this chapter are these words used: Verba toties inculcata, viva sunt, vera sunt, sana sunt, plana sunt. {a} The words are driven home often, they are alive, they are true, they are wholesome, they are plain.

Among their idols.] See on Eze 6:4.

Where they did offer sweet savour.] Idolatry is costly.

{a} Augustine.

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.

6:13-14 Riblah was located on the northern border of Israel and is well known from other biblical books. At Riblah, Nebuchadnezzar set up his tribunal and executed the sons of Zedekiah and many other leading citizens of Judah (2 Kgs 25:6, 21).

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

That is, all nations when you shall see my judgments.

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

Now he again announces that they shall know what they have long neglected. But here a different knowledge from the former seems to be marked; for he has lately said that they should so remember as to be ashamed, and acknowledge that the slaughters predicted by the Prophets had not been in vain: but here he mentions nothing of this kind, but only speaks of that experimental knowledge which is common to the ungodly. And, in truth, this doctrine seems to be extended promiscuously to all the commonalty. For although for the most part they did not profit by it, yet all perceived that God was a judge, because so clear and conspicuous was the proof of his vengeance, that they were compelled to feel, whether they would or not, that their punishment was just. We may perceive, then, that the Prophet intends the phrase — then ye shall know, etc., in a wide sense, because he addresses all the Israelites without exception, even those who should perish. For, we said, such was the character of that knowledge, that it only frightened them, and did not bend them to humility. And, truly, the words which follow show only the terrible vengeance of God, when they shall be slain, says he, that is, shall fall, near their idols But we have said that they would more clearly acknowledge the vengeance of God from this — that he rendered their false gods an object of ridicule. But, as I have said before, the Prophet uses an opprobrious name when speaking of idols. Since, therefore, they so fell near their idols, under the confidence and protection of which they thought that they would always be safe; and although the idols themselves were thus involved in the condemnation, this made God’s vengeance more manifest. And this is the reason, as I have before suggested, why the Prophet enters into these details. What follows is to the same purpose — by the circuit of all their altars This, then, was profanation of all altars, to be defiled by carcases being drawn over them, and then sprinkled with human blood. But he also points out the places where they worshipped false gods; for we have said that lofty places were chosen for them, but here he puts lofty hills, and then the tops of the mountains But as idol-worshippers heaped to themselves various and numerous games, when they were satiated with their high places, they had shady valleys, for their altars were under trees, where they offered incense. The Prophet therefore pronounces that there was no place which God did not condemn with infamy. When, therefore, he says that the incense had a pleasing smell, the opposite is doubtless intended, since this incense was foul before God: as when an immodest woman desires to please an adulterer, it moves the wrath of her husband, so here God silently complains that he was provoked by that foul incense with which the Israelites wished and desired to gratify their idols.

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.

(13) Upon every high hill.—The various localities especially selected for idolatrous rites are enumerated one after another, to give more vividness and graphic character to the whole judgment. The words “sweet savour” are constantly applied to the commanded sacrifices to the Lord, and are here used ironically of the idol sacrifices.

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

13. Comp. Eze_6:7 on the effect of these judgments on the minds of the people. On “idols,” cf. Eze_6:4. The cumulative phrases “in all the tops of the mountains,” and “under every thick oak” are wanting in LXX.; and so “he that remaineth” Eze_6:12. For oak rather terebinth.

sweet savour] Is said of the smoke or steam of the sacrificial fat burnt upon the altar, ch. Eze_16:19, Eze_20:28; Eze_20:41, and often in the ritual laws of the Pentateuch.

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.

So will I stretch out mine hand upon them,.... Not unto them, in a way of mercy; but upon, or against them, in a way of judgment. The Targum paraphrases it,

"and I will lift up the stroke of my power upon them;''

his mighty hand of vengeance:

and make the land desolate; by destroying the inhabitants of it:

yea, more desolate than the wilderness towards Diblath, in all their habitations; so the Syriac version renders it, "and I will make this land more desolate than the land of Diblath"; but other versions, "I will make the land desolate from the wilderness of Diblath"; to which the Targum agrees; or, "from the wilderness to Diblath": Kimchi and Ben Melech think this is the same with Riblath; as Deuel is put for Reuel in Num 1:14; which was in the land of Hamath, and which, Jerom says, was in his times called Epiphania in Syria; here it was that Nebuchadnezzar brought Zedekiah, and slew his sons before him, Jer 39:5; this, though in Hamath in Syria, was on the borders of the land of Israel, Num 34:8; so that "hence from the desert of Diblath", as the Arabic version renders it, "even to Jerusalem", as may be supplied, takes in the whole land, and shows that it should be utterly desolate. There is a Bethdiblathaim mentioned in Jer 48:22; as in Moab; and there is also Almondiblathaim, which was one of the stations of the Israelites; and seems to be in Moab, or on its borders, Num 33:46; and appears, by the places named with it, to be the same as that in Jeremiah; and so was part of that terrible wilderness through which the Israelites passed; and to which the desolation of the land of Israel by the Chaldeans is compared; and which serves to confirm our version, which makes the desolation to be greater than that:

and they shall know that I am the Lord; the true God; the one and only Lord God; who never changes his purposes; fulfils his promises and threatenings; and there is no escaping his mighty hand.

Next: Ezekiel Chapter 7

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

Then shall ye know: see Eze 6:3-7,10.

Upon every high hill, & c.; each of which was accounted a fit place for such superstitions rites, and in all which some or other of you did commit idolatry, and, shame to speak it, burnt sweets, rich spices, which God had given them, to dunghill gods, stinking idols, which the devil had commended to them, Deu 32:17.

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

13. Oak — Rather, terebinth. This is an emphatic repetition of all the warnings uttered earlier in the chapter. If their iniquities shall continue — as they will — all these heavy punishments shall fall upon them.

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

The thought is the same as in ver. 6, but the localities are given in greater detail. The "hills" and "mountains" were naturally the scenes of the worship of the "high places," and these were commonly associated with groves of trees, as in Jer_2:20 Jer_3:6; Isa_57:5. in Hos_4:13, oaks (or terebinths) poplars, and elms are specifically named. (comp. Deu_12:2; 2Ki_16:4) Where they did offer sweet savour, etc. The phrase is eminently characteristic of Ezekiel as a priest, (Eze_16:19 Eze_20:28, Eze_20:41) and is specially prominent in the books which he must have studied. It meets us three times in Exodus, seventeen in Leviticus, seventeen in Numbers, and seldom elsewhere. The crowning sin, from the prophet"s point of view, was that the incense which was due to Jehovah had been lavished on the false gods of the nations.

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

General Information:

These are Yahweh's words to the people of Israel.

around their altars, on every high hill

Another possible meaning is "around their altars, which are on every high hill."

hill—on all the mountain peaks, and under every flourishing tree and thick oak

Another possible meaning is "hill, on all the mountain peaks, under every flourishing tree, and under every thick oak."

flourishing

healthy and growing

oak

a large tree with strong wood that provided shade for worshipers

Diblah

the name of a city (See: How to Translate Names)

translationWords

oak

hand

desert

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

terebinth Heb. אֵלָה, planzon in Old French, a branch.

branchy עֲבֻתָּה, an expression of (below 20: 28): “a branchy (עָבוֹת) tree,” i.e., whose branches are many.

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.