Ezekiel 6:2

(2) Toward the mountains of Israel.—It is not uncommon to address prophetic utterances to inanimate objects as a poetic way of representing the people. (Comp. Eze_36:1; Mic_6:2, &c.) The mountains are especially mentioned as being the chosen places of idolatrous worship. (See Deu_12:2; 2Ki_17:10-11; Jer_2:20; Jer_3:6; Hos_4:13.) Baal, the sun-god, was the idol especially worshipped upon the hills.

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

Eze 6:2 Son of man, set thy face toward the mountains of Israel, and prophesy against them,

Ver. 2. Set thy face toward the mountains of Israel,] i.e., The Jews, who are haughty, and hard as mountains, who are asperi et inculti, rough and rude, as mountaineers use to be. In Mount Olivet itself, besides other mountains, they boldly set up their idols, even in the sight of the Lord; so that he never looked out of the sanctuary but he beheld that vile hill of abominations; called therefore, by an elegant alliteration, the Hill of Corruption. {2Ki 23:13}

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 6:2-7. Set thy face toward the mountains of Israel — Turn thy face to that part where Judea is situated. Judea was a hilly country; therefore that whole land is expressed here and elsewhere by the mountains of Israel, Judah being called Israel, because the ten tribes, generally distinguished by that name, had been long since carried captive into Assyria, and Judah possessed a great part of their country. And prophesy against them — Direct thy discourse to them. The prophets sometimes directed their discourse to the inanimate parts of the creation, thereby to upbraid the stupidity of men. Thus saith the Lord to the mountains and to the hills — Every part of the country had been defiled with idolatry. The altars built for idol-worship were commonly placed upon mountains and hills; the shady valleys and river-sides were likewise made use of for the same purpose, particularly for the sacrificing of children to Moloch: see Isa 57:5; Jer 7:31. So by this the prophet denounces a general judgment upon the whole country. And your altars shall be desolate — See note on Lev 26:30, where Moses denounces against the Israelites the same judgments upon their provocations. I will cast down your slain men before your idols, &c. — So that their sin shall be read in the manner of their punishment; and while the idols are upbraided with their inability to help their worshippers, the idolaters are reproached with the folly of trusting in them. And ye shall know that I am the Lord — “An epiphonema, or conclusion of a severe denunciation often repeated by this prophet, importing that the judgments which God intended to bring on the Jews, would make the most hardened and stupid sinners sensible that this was God’s hand.” — Lowth.

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

Vers. 2, 3. Set thy face toward the mountains, etc. The formula is eminently characteristic of Ezekiel. We have had it with a different verb in the Hebrew, in Eze_4:3. It will meet us again in Eze_20:46 Eze_21:2 Eze_25:2 Eze_28:21 Eze_29:2 Eze_35:2 Eze_38:2. In this case it probably implied an outward act, like that of Daniel, when he, with a very different purpose, looked towards Jerusalem. (Dan_6:10) In contrast with the widespread plains of Mesopotamia in which Ezekiel found himself, this was the chief characteristic of the land which he had left. The mountains represent the whole country, including the rivers (Revised Version, here and throughout, renders the Hebrew "water courses," to distinguish it from the "river" (nahar) of Eze_1:1, Eze_1:3, et al., and the "river" (nachal) of Eze_47:5. Its strict meaning is that of a "ravine" or "gorge," the wady of modern Arabic, through which a stream rushes in the winter, but is dried up in the summer. All the localities are named as having been alike polluted by the worship of idols For mountains and hills as the scenes of such worship, see Deu_12:2; 2Ki_17:10, 2Ki_17:11; Jer_2:20 Jer_3:6; Hos_4:13; for the ravines and valleys, 2Ki_23:10 and; Jer_7:31 (the Valley of Hinnom) and more generally, Isa_57:5, Isa_57:6. The same combination meets us in Eze_35:8; Eze_36:5, Eze_36:6. In his address to the mountains, Ezekiel follows in the footsteps of Mic_6:2. I will destroy your high places. The words point to the most persistent, though not the worst, of all the idolatries by which the worship of Jehovah as the God of Israel had been overshadowed. The words of Ezekiel are identical with those of Leo, 26:30. The Bamoth, or high places, of Baal, are mentioned in Num_22:41 and Jos_13:17, and are probably identical with the high places of Arnon in Num_21:28. There they are named only incidentally, not in the way of prohibition or condemnation. So, in like manner, in Deu_32:13 and Deu_33:29, if the technical sense exists at all, it is referred to only asincluded in the triumph of the worship of Jehovah over the hill fortresses as the sanctuaries of other gods. The absence of the word from the Book of Judges is difficult to explain, as it was precisely in that period of the history of Israel, irregular and unsettled, that we should have expected to find the people adopting the cultus of their neighbours. A probable solution of the problem is that, so long as the tabernacle and the ark were at Shiloh, that was so pre-eminently the centre of the worship of Jehovah, that the people were not tempted to forsake it, or to set up the worship upon the high places side by side with it. When, after the capture of the ark, Shiloh was a deserted sanctuary, we meet for the first time with the worship of the high places, not as a thing forbidden, but as sanctioned by the presence of Samuel, as the judge and prophet of the people, (1Sa_9:12-14 1Sa_10:5) the "high place" in the last passage being, apparently, the same as "the hill of God." in 2Sa_1:19, possibly from the Book of Jashar, we have the elder, less technical sense of Deu_32:12 and Deu_33:19. It would seem, accordingly, as if Samuel had acted on a policy likethat of the counsel which Gregory I gave Augustine. He found the worship of the high places adopted by the Israelites from the neighbouring nations. He sought to turn them to the worship of Jehovah. So the writer of 1Ki_3:2 records the fact that "the people sacrificed in high places," because as yet, though the ark had been brought to Jerusalem, "there was no house built unto the Name of Jehovah until those days," and that Solomon himself also "sacrificed and burnt incense in the high places." At the chief of these, the great high place of Gibeon, Solomon offered a thousand burnt offerings, and had the memorable vision in which he made choice of wisdom rather than length of days, or riches and honour, returning from it, as though the cultus of the two places stood nearly on an equal footing, to offer other burnt offerings before the ark of God at Jerusalem. (1Ki_3:3-15) With the erection of the temple the state of things was, in some measure, altered, and the temple was the one legitimate sanctuary. When the ten tribes revolted under Jeroboam, they were, of course, cut off from the temple services, and the king accordingly, besides the calves at Bethel and Dan, set up high places, with priests not of the sons of Aaron, in the cities of Samaria. (1Ki_12:31 1Ki_13:32) From that time forward the high places are always mentioned by both historians and prophets in a tone of condemnation, whether they were in Israel or Judah, (1Ki_14:4) but they had become so deeply rooted in the reverence of the people that even the better kings of Judah, who warred against open idolatry, like Asa, (1Ki_15:14) Jehoshaphat, (1Ki_22:43) Jehoash, (2Ki_12:3) Amaziah, (2Ki_14:4) Azariah, (2Ki_15:4) left them undisturbed; while in the history of the northern kingdom the cultus of the Bamoth reigned paramount. (2Ki 17, passim) It was not till Hezekiah, presumably under Isaiah"s influence, removed the "high places (2Ki_18:4) that we find any serious attempt to put them down. They had been tolerated, apparently, because, as in Rabshakeh"s taunt, (2Ki_18:22) they were nominally connected with the worship of Jehovah. Under the confluent polytheism of Manasseh they naturally reappeared. (2Ch_33:3) The reformation of Josiah was more thorough (2Ki 23, passim; , 2Ch_34:3) and was probably stimulated by Hilkiah and Huldah. The discovery of the book of the Law (probably Deuteronomy), with its condemnations of mountain sanctuaries, though, as we have seen, the Bamoth were not prohibited by name, roused the zeal of the prophets, especially of the priest prophets Jeremiah and Ezekiel, and when the Bamoth-cultus revived, after the death of Josiah, the former was strong in his protests, (Jer_7:31, et al.) all the more so because now, as in the earlier stages of their history, they had become high places of Baal, (Jer_19:5 Jer_32:5) and were associated with abominations like those of the worship of Moloch in the Valley of Hinnom. So it was that Ezekiel, writing on the banks of the Chebar, is now led to place them in the forefront of the sins of his people.

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

Verse 2. Set thy face toward the mountains of Israel] This is a new prophecy, and was most probably given after the four hundred and thirty days of his lying on his left and right side were accomplished. By Israel here, Judea is simply meant; not the ten tribes, who had long before been carried into captivity. Ezekiel uses this term in reference to the Jews only.

The mountains may be addressed here particularly, because it was on them the chief scenes of idolatry were exhibited.

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

2. Son of man] See on ch. Eze_2:1.

mountains of Israel] i.e. the mountain-land of Israel, but with special reference to the mountains as the seats of idolatrous worship.

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 say, ye mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Lord God,.... Since the people of the Jews would not hear the word of the Lord, the mountains are called upon to hear it; unless the inhabitants of the mountains are meant:

thus saith the Lord God to the mountains and to the hills, to the rivers and to the valleys: these are addressed, because idols were worshipped here; as upon the mountains and hills, so by rivers of water, and also in valleys, as in the valley of Hinnom idols were worshipped; upon mountains and hills, because they thought themselves nearer to heaven; by rivers, because of purity; and in valleys, because shady and obscure, and had something solemn and venerable in them:

behold I, even I, will bring a sword upon you; that is, upon the idolaters, which worshipped in these places; otherwise different instruments, as pick axes, &c. would have been more proper. The Targum paraphrases it,

"them that kill with the sword;''

meaning the Chaldeans, who doubtless are intended:

and I will destroy your high places; the temples and altars, built on high places, and devoted to idolatrous worship, as follows:

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

Mountains, where idols were chiefly adored. Here their votaries find death. (Worthington) --- Israel, including all God’s people, as the sacred writers make no distinction (Calmet) after the destruction of Samaria.

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).

Son of man; see Eze 2:1; put thyself towards the mountains, in a posture of one who is going to speak, look toward them; hereby (as Isaiah did, Isa 12) upbraiding the deafness of the Jews, whom he now left to speak to mountains. Or rather, to the inhabitants of the mountains, who were secure in their fastnesses; and great idolaters, who chose the high hills, &c. for places of idolatrous worship. Israel; the common name to all that now remained since the ten tribes were captivated by Shalmaneser.

Prophesy against them; declare my judgments against them.

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

The mountains - The inhabitants of the mountains, who were secure in their fastnesses.

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