Ezekiel 7:2

2. Eze_7:2 might read: unto the land of Israel an end! the end is come upon, &c. Cf. Amo_8:2.

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 7:2 Also, thou son of man, thus saith the Lord GOD unto the land of Israel; An end, the end is come upon the four corners of the land.

Ver. 2. An end, the end is come.] Exitium et excidium. Great kingdoms have their times and their turns, their rise and their ruin. The wicked’s happiness will take its end, surely and swiftly.

Upon the four corners of the land.] Heb., The four wings, called also the "four winds." {Mat 24:31} They had defiled the land from corner to corner; {as Ezr 9:11} God therefore now would sweep it all over with the besom of utter destruction.

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 7:2-4. Thus saith the Lord unto the land of Israel — Unto the inhabitants of the land. Israel is often put for Judah, after the captivity of the ten tribes; those that were left of these tribes joining themselves to the tribe of Judah. The whole country of Judea is here comprehended. An end — An end of God’s patience, of the peace and welfare of the people, and of the plenty, beauty, and desirableness of the land itself; is come — Or is near at hand; even that dreadful end threatened by Moses and the prophets, as the certain punishment of idolatry and other violations of God’s law: upon the four corners of the land — Upon all parts of it. Now is the end come upon thee — There shall be no more delays. I will judge thee according to thy ways — I will punish thee according to thy deserts. Thine abominations shall be in the midst of thee — The punishment of thy sins shall be upon thee everywhere throughout thy land.

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

Verse 2. An end, the end is come] Instead of קץ בא הקץ kets ba hakkets, one MS. of Kennicott's, one of De Rossi's, and one of my own, read קץ בא בא הקץ kets ba, ba hakkets, "The end cometh, come is the end." This reading is supported by all the ancient Versions, and is undoubtedly genuine. The end COMETH: the termination of the Jewish state is coming, and while I am speaking, it is come. The destruction is at the door. The later hand, who put the vowel points to the ancient MS. that has the above reading, did not put the points to the flrst בא ba, but struck his pen gently across it, and by a mark in the margin intimated that it should be blotted out. All my ancient MSS. were without the points originally; but they have been added by modern hands, with a different ink; and they have in multitudes of instances corrected, or rather changed, important readings, to make them quadrate with the masora. But the original reading, in almost every case, is discernible.

The end is come upon the four corners of the land.] This is not a partial calamity; it shall cover and sweep the whole land. The cup of your iniquity is full, and my forbearing is at an end. This whole chapter is poetical.

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

(2) The four corners.—A frequent Scriptural phrase for every part. (Comp. Isa_11:12; Rev_7:1.) The origin of the expression is to be sought, not in any supposed popular belief that the earth was square, but in the fact that so many common things had just four sides or four corners (see Exo_25:12; Exo_27:2; Job_1:19; Act_10:11, &c), that the phrase came naturally to be a common expression of universality. “An end, the end,” is a repetition for the sake of emphasis. It occurs again in Eze_7:6, and, in varied words, also in Eze_7:10; Eze_7:12; Eze_7:26.

Eze_7:3-4 are repeated almost exactly in Eze_7:8-9. The frequent repetitions of this chapter are designed, and give great force to the denunciation of woe. “Thine abominations are in the midst of thee,” in the sense of calling down punishment upon them, as appears from the parallel in Eze_7:9.

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

Now is the end come upon thee,.... This is repeated for the confirmation of it, and for the sake of application of it to the people of Israel, of whom he had before spoken in the third person; but now in the second, in order to arouse them, and excite attention:

and I will send mine anger upon thee; the token of it, the punishment of their sins:

and I will judge thee according to thy ways; pass sentence, and execute it, as their evil ways and practices deserved:

and I will recompense, or "put upon thee" (f),

all thine abominations; cause them to bear as a burden the just punishment of their detestable iniquities; which would be more than they would be able to bear, though not more than they deserved.

(f) "ponam super te", Pagninus; "dabo super te", Montanus; "reponam super te", Junius & Tremellius, Polanus.

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

Israel, or Judea, in all its parts. (Worthington) --- In five or six years’ time all shall be destroyed.

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).

Unto the land; the inhabitants who had sinned, and also to the land wherein they sinned.

An end, end of God’s patience, of the peace and welfare of the people, and of the plenty, beauty, and desirableness of the land itself, is come, or is near at hand.

The end; that dreadful end I threatened against you, and which you will find in the execution of the menaces pronounced against you by the former and latter prophets.

Upon the four corners; it is an overflowing misery, that spreads over all the land.

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

2, 3. The time for repentance is quickly passing or is already past. The end is at hand. Jehovah’s righteous anger will be followed quickly with judgment, and the sins of the people will be their rod of punishment; “I will put upon thee all thine abominations.”

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

An end, etc. The iteration of the word once more gives emphasis. The words read like an echo of Amo_8:2. The four corners (Hebrew, "wings") were probably, as with us, the north, east, south, and west. The phrase had been used before in Isa_11:12, and the thought meets us again, in the form of the "four winds," in Dan_11:4; Zec_2:6; Mat_24:31; Mar_13:27. The "end" in this case is either that of the siege of Jerusalem, or that of the existence of Israel as a nation. It was now drawing nigh was, as we say, within measurable distance.

HOMILETICS.

The end is come.

I THE END THAT SURELY COMES. Time is broken into periods; and every period, long or short, has its certain end. The tale of life is written in many chapters, each with its own appropriate conclusion; in some cases the conclusion is violent, abrupt, and startling. We are surprised out of an old settled course. The mill stops suddenly, and then the silence is alarming. There are the greater epochs of life, when a whole volume of experience is closed, and another must be opened, till at length we reach Finis. But every day has its sunset. Every year runs out to December and dies its wintry death, in spite of all the festivities of Christmas. Youth is fleeting; its sweet springtime fast melts, its blossoms fade and fall. Life itself runs out and reaches an end. As each period goes it vanishes, never to return. Thus Christina Rossetti writes

Come, gone, gone forever; Gone as an unreturning truer; Gone as to death the merriest liver; Gone as the year at the dying fall, Tomorrow, today, yesterday, never: Gone once for all.

1. There is an end to the day of work. "The night cometh, wherein no man can work." The opportunity will pass. Let us make the most of our strength and time while we have them.

2. There is an end to the freedom of sin. The orgies of mad self-indulgence will not last forever. They burn themselves out in folly and shame. Then comes the end, and after that the reckoning.

3. There is an end to the discipline of sorrow. The pain will not last forever. The doubt and mystery and darkness are not eternal. The Christian pilgrimage is long and weary, but it is not an infinite, endless course. The wilderness is wide, and the goal far off. But the way will end at last in the heavenly city, the home of the soul.

II THE END THAT SHOULD COME. There are some things which we should do welt to end, yet still they are with us.

1. An end should come to our life of sin. The old sin has been our companion for years, a bad companion, corrupt and corrupting. It is time we and it parted. It is time we turned over a new leaf and began a better way. The old self has lived too long. Let it die and be buried.

2. An end should come to our indecision. "How long halt ye between two opinions?" This hesitation has lasted too long. "Choose you this day whom ye will serve.

3. An end should come to the gloom of doubt, the coldness of half-hearted service, the lethargy and paralysis of an unspiritual religion. "The night is far spent; the day is at hand;" "Awake, thou that sleepest!

III THE END THAT MAY COME. We contemplate possible endings which we would fain avert, but which seem to be approaching.

1. Some of these endings are within our power, and should be kept off. We should guard against an end to our early faith and zeal. Ephraim"s goodness, which was like the morning cloud, was soon dissipated. Of some it must be said the end has come to their fervent devotion and self-sacrificing service. Once they were bright lights of the Church, but they have waned, and are approaching spiritual night.

2. Some of these endings are beyond our control. The home circle may be broken, the dear countenances of the loved may smile upon us no more. For the old fulness of friendship we may have left only blankness and vacancy, and a bitter sense of loss. The very freshness of our soul may be lost too, and thee we look back to the old sweet years, and wonder how we could have taken them so quietly.

IV THE END THAT WILL FEVER COME.

1. There will never be an end to the righteous Law of God. Right and truth are eternal. We can never outlive their claims. If we continue forever in opposition to them, their pains and penalties must be always ours.

2. The love of God will never end. Modes of Divine operations may change as circumstances alter, and new dispensations may succeed to old dispensations new covenants taking the place of old covenants. But God does not change. There is no end to him. He abideth faithful. In the wreck of the universe the Rock of Ages remains unshaken. Love in his essence, God never wearies in helping and blessing. There is no end to his grace. "The mercy of the Lord endureth forever." Whenever the helpless, penitent prodigal returns, he will find his Father waiting to welcome him.

3. The eternal life can have no end. The body dies. Happily there will be an end to that. But the life in God abides forever. In that life many things thought to be ended here on earth will be recovered and will revive. Thus our past experience is not utterly lost. It lives in memory and in what it has made us. A German poet writes

Yesterday I loved; Today I suffer; Tomorrow I die. But I shall gladly, Today and tomorrow Think on yesterday.

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

The end has come Because I had said (Deut. 4:25): “and you will have grown old (וְנוֹשַּׁנְתֶּם) in the land, and you will practice corruption, etc., so that you will be lost.” [The word] וְנוֹשַּׁנְתֶּם has the numerical value of 852, but they stayed there for [only] 850 years: 440 from the time they entered it until the Temple was built, and [then] the Temple stood 410 years.

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.