Ezekiel 7:22

Eze 7:22 My face will I turn also from them, and they shall pollute my secret [place]: for the robbers shall enter into it, and defile it.

Ver. 22. My face will I turn also from them.] From the Chaldees, that they may spoil at pleasure; or from the Israelites, that they may perish without help.

And they shall pollute my secret place.] Even the Holy of holies, whereinto none was to enter but the high priest once a year; yet, besides these Babylonian burglars, Heliodorus and Pompey did; but the one fell mad, and the other never prospered after it.

For the robbers shall enter into it.] Effractores; by this name, breach makers, the Jews at this day term our nobles and grandees.

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.

Which signifieth the most holy place, whereinto none might enter but the high Priest.

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

pollute my secret place--just retribution for the Jews' pollution of the temple. "Robbers shall enter and defile" the holy of holies, the place of God's manifested presence, entrance into which was denied even to the Levites and priests and was permitted to the high priest only once a year on the great day of atonement.

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

Verse 22. The robbers shall enter into it] The Chaldeans shall not only destroy the city; but they shall enter the temple, deface it, plunder it, and burn it to the ground.

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

As to the beginning of the verse there is no ambiguity, for God pronounces that the Jews would be miserable, because he would avert his face from them For in this was situated their happiness, that God, as he had promised, would regard their safety. As long, therefore, as God deigned to look upon them, their safety was certain, so that there was no fear of danger. But when he no longer cared for them, these wretched ones were exposed to all calamities; hence they are said to be deprived of all protection, when alienated from God. This, then, is one clause. As to what follows, expositors interpret it of the sanctuary; and I do not greatly object to this, if any one approves of this sense, but I take it in a wider sense. For God in my view calls the land his hidden place, which was safe under his protection. For he says, that he had extended wings, under which he could hide the people, (Exodus 19:4;) and David prays that God would receive him within the hidden place of his tabernacle. (Psalm 27:5.) Since, therefore, the people was protected by the power of God, the land is deservedly called God’s hidden place, as an asylum, and it will be proper so to translate it. Devastators, therefore, shall profane my asylum, because they shall enter in there, and shall profane it. He repeats the same word. Those who take it for the sanctuary restrict it to the holy of holies, for so they call the shrine or oracle whence the answers were given; and they call it an oracle, not from praying, but because they enquired there of secret things. But as I have said, that seems to be forced, though I will not quarrel with it, but show what I like better. The meaning is, however God had spared the Jews for a long time, nay, had them hidden, as it were, under his wings, and the land was as it were a sacred asylum, since they were so hidden that they felt no injury from foreign enemies: yet this should profit them nothing, because God would throw down all bulwarks, and give easy access to their enemies, so that they might break through, and then profane and confuse all things. 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.

(22) My secret place.—The holy of holies, sacredly guarded from all intrusion, and representing the very culmination both of the religion and of the national life of Israel, shall be polluted. If the pronoun “they” represents any one in particular, it must be the Chaldæans; but it is better to take the verb, as often in the third person plural, impersonally, i.e., “shall be polluted.” The agents in this pollution are immediately mentioned as “the robbers,” i.e., the Chaldæan armies.

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

22. The enemy shall penetrate into the temple and profane it.

turn … from them] This most naturally refers to Israel, from whom the Lord will turn his face in anger, cf. Eze_7:11. It might refer to the invader, whom the Lord will not behold but permit to work his will, cf. Lam_2:3.

secret place] Is probably the temple (Lam_2:1); less natural would be the city. The word “secret,” however, is not to be referred to the arcanum of the Most Holy place; the meaning is “my precious thing.”

for the robbers] and robbers; the Chaldean pillagers. The words “pollute” and “defile” are the same; better, profane.

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.

Make a chain,.... To bind them; not the robbers, the Chaldeans, but the Jews; in order either to bring them to the bar to be tried for capital crimes hereafter mentioned, or to be led bound in chains into captivity; see Neh 3:10;

for the land is full of bloody crimes; or, "judgment of bloods" (m); capital crimes, such as are deserving of death, particularly murder, or shedding of innocent blood; so the Targum interprets it of sins of murder:

and the city is full of violence; rapine, oppression, and injury done to the poor, the widow, and the fatherless; meaning the city of Jerusalem, where was the great court of judicature, and where justice ought to have been administered.

(m) "judicio sanguiuum", V. L. Pagninus, Montanus, Calvin, Polanus, Starckius; "criminibus capitalibus", Piscator; "sanguianariis judiciis", Castalio.

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

My secret place - The inner sanctuary, hidden from the multitude, protected by the most high.

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

Secret: the inward sanctuary, the holy of holies. (Challoner) --- God would guard it no longer. (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).

My face will I turn; either from the Jews, who cry under such violence and profaneness; or, from the Chaldeans who act it, neither relieving the one nor restraining the other.

My secret place; either,

1. My enclosed land of Judea. Or,

2. My city Jerusalem. Or,

3. The temple. And,

4. The holy of holies: all which the Babylonian conquerors trampled under their conquering feet. The robbers; the soldiers, who in truth robbed the temple and here have their true style given them, are robbers that used the temple and its consecrated gifts without ally reverence or respect. They should break all open, and rush into the places which Jews, Levites, and priests might not enter.

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

22. Jehovah will not turn the wrath of his face upon these enemies of the “holy people” and “holy city,” even when they enter and pillage the temple. He who has always heretofore protected his own sanctuary will do it no more, for it is now a sanctuary of idolatry (chap. 8).

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

My secret place. The work of the spoiler would not stop at the idols of silver and gold. Jehovah would surrender his own "secret place" (secret treasure in margin of Revised Version), that over which he had watched, sc. the sanctuary of his temple, to the hands of the spoiler in Psa_83:4 the same adjective is used of persons, the "hidden" or protected ones of God. In the name of Baal-zephon, "Lord of the secret place," we have possibly a kindred thought. in Psa_17:14 we have "hid treasure.

The averted face.

In the figurative but natural and expressive language of the Hebrews, the shining of God"s countenance means his good pleasure and good will towards those whom he favours, and the hiding or averting of his countenance means his displeasure. Prayer often shaped itself into the familiar expression, "The Lord cause his face to shine upon us;" and the displeasure of Heaven was deprecated in such terms as these: "Turn not thy face from thy servants." The child distinguishes at once between the smile and the frown of the parent; the courtier is at no loss to discriminate between the welcome and favour and the displeasure apparent upon the monarch"s face. To the mind at all sensitive to the moral beauty and glory of God, no sentence can be so dreadful as that uttered in the simple but terrible language of the text, "My face will I turn also from them.

I IN THE SHINING OF GOD"S COUNTENANCE IS LIFE AND JOY. When the sun arises in his strength, and floods the hills and the valleys, the rivers and the forests, the cornfields and the meadows, with his glorious rays, nature returns the smiles, glows in the sunbeams, rejoices in the warmth and the illumination. Where the sun shines brightly, there the colours are radiant, the odour delicious, there the music of the grove is sweet and the harvest of the plain is golden, there life is luxuriant and gladness breaks forth into laughter and song. And in the moral, the spiritual realm, it is the sunlight of God"s countenance, the manifestation of God"s favour, which calls forth and sustains all spiritual life, health, peace, and joy. "In thy favour is life.

II MAN"S UNBELIEF AND SIN OCCASION THE HIDING AND WITHDRAWING OF GOD"S COUNTENANCE. The change is not in him; it is in us. When the sun is not seen in the sky, it is not because he no longer shines, but because clouds, mists, or smoke, ascending from the earth, come between the orb of day and the globe which he illumines. So if God turns his face from an individual, a city, a people, it is because their sins have risen up as a dense, foul fog, intervening between them and a holy, righteous God. "Your iniquities have separated between you and your God." So it was with those against whom the Prophet Ezekiel was called upon to testify. So it is with multitudes whom the ministers of Christ are required to address in language of tender sympathy, yet of expostulation and reproach.

III THE AVERSION OF GOD"S COUNTENANCE IS THE WORST OF ALL CALAMITIES. It is not to be wondered at that men with their composite nature, absorbed as they are in things which affect the body and the earthly life, should think chiefly of the sufferings and privations in which the moral laws of the universe involve them. And these sufferings and privations are realities which no thoughtful man can fail to perceive and to estimate with something like correctness. Yet he who is enlightened and in any measure spiritually sensitive cannot fail to see that it is the regard of God himself which is of chief import. It is better to enjoy the Divine loving kindness, even in poverty, privation, spoliation, and weakness, than to possess luxury, honour, and the delights of sense, and to know that God"s countenance is turned away, is hidden.

IV A MERCIFUL GOD WILL TURN AGAIN HIS FACE AND CAUSE IT TO SHINE UPON PENITENT AND BELIEVING SUPPLIANTS. It is sin which conceals the Divine countenance; it is repentance which seeks the shining anew of that countenance; and salvation consists in the response of God to the prayer of man. Yet the turning of his face towards us is the work of his own mercy, the revelation of his own nature compassionate, gracious, and forgiving. T.

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

Turn - Either from the Jews, or from the Chaldeans, neither relieving the one nor restraining the other. Secret place - The temple, and the holy of holies. Robbers - The soldiers.

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

My secret place The place where I was hidden among them.

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.