Ezekiel 7:24

Eze 7:24 Wherefore I will bring the worst of the heathen, and they shall possess their houses: I will also make the pomp of the strong to cease; and their holy places shall be defiled.

Ver. 24. Wherefore I will bring the worst of the heathen.] Velut carnifices; who may plunder you to the life, and take away your lives. {Hab 1:6-7; Hab 1:9} The Jews were bad enough, but the Chaldees were worse, if worse might be; malignants above measure, Poneropolitans, breathing devils. A hard knot must have a harder wedge, as the proverb is.

I will also make the pomp of the strong to cease.] I will crush the crests of those potentates, and lay them low. See Isa 14:11-12.

Their holy places shall be defiled.] Sacella et lararia eorum; their chapels or oratories made in or near unto their houses for divine worship.

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 was the Temple that was divided into three parts, Ps. 63:35.

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

worst of the heathen--literally, "wicked of the nations"; the giving up of Israel to their power will convince the Jews that this is a final overthrow.

pomp of . . . strong--the pride wherewith men "stiff of forehead" despise the prophet.

holy places--the sacred compartments of the temple (Psa 68:35; Jer 51:51) [CALVIN]. God calls it "their holy places," because they had so defiled it that He regarded it no longer as His. However, as the defilement of the temple has already been mentioned (Eze 7:20, Eze 7:22), and "their sacred places" are introduced as a new subject, it seems better to understand this of the places dedicated to their idols. As they defiled God's sanctuary, He will defile their self-constituted "sacred places."

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 24. The worst of the heathen] The Chaldeans; the most cruel and idolatrous of all nations.

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

He repeats what he had said, that enemies would come who should be ministers of God’s vengeance. And again we learn from this place, that even the impious are impelled by the hand and secret direction of God, so that they cannot move a finger but by his will. He had formerly said that he would give the Jews into the hands of strangers; but what now? I will cause them to come, says he, as if he would stretch out his hand to them, and induce them. We see, therefore, that God holds the impious under his guidance, as it were, for executing his judgments; but we must consider the difference which I have lately laid down; for God so works by them, as still to have nothing in common with them. For they are carried on by a depraved impulse; but God has a method, wonderful and incomprehensible by us, which impels them hither and thither, so that he does not involve himself in any alliance with their fault. For he calls them the perverse nation, that the Jews might know that the last slaughter was approaching, since they should have to do with the most cruel enemies. He says, shall possess their homes, and because the pride of the people might seem an obstacle to God’s exacting the deserved penalty, therefore he adds, I will make the pride of the powerful to cease, says he; for as long as the Jews were swollen with haughtiness and self-confidence, the Prophet could not profit them at all. Therefore he says, that God would make their haughtiness to cease, by which they were vainly puffed up as long as God sustained or bore with them. At length he adds, their sanctuaries shall be polluted This passage confirms the opinion which I formerly approved. For Ezekiel speaks of the pollution of the sanctuary as of a new thing. For he here draws away from them the vain hope by which they deceived themselves, when they boasted that they dwelt under God’s guardianship, since the temple protected themselves and the city. Jeremiah reproves them for trusting in lying words, while they declare that they have the Lord’s temple —

“The temple of the Lord, The temple of the Lord.” (Jeremiah 7:4.)

Our Prophet does not speak openly, but he doubtless shows that their security was false, while they oppose the temple to God, as if the temple were a shield to repel his vengeance. God, indeed, dwelt in the temple, but this condition was added, that he was to be purely worshipped there. But when the temple was polluted, God departed from it, as we shall afterwards see. For this reason the Prophet says, the enemies should come who should pollute and contaminate the holy places of the people Hitherto he had not spoken of the temple, but he now adds, the temple, that the Jews should not rashly boast in the name of God, as if they held him fixed to themselves. 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.

(24) Worst of the heathen.—Worst refers to the power and thoroughness of their work against the Israelites. (Comp. Deu_28:49-50; also Lev_26:19, where the word here rendered “pomp of the strong” is translated “pride of power.”) Both passages are the warnings, long ages ago, of the judgments now declared to be close at hand. “Their holy places;” no longer God’s, since He has abandoned them for the sin of the people. (See Eze_11:23.)

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

24. worst of the heathen] Cf. Eze_28:7, Eze_30:11 the terrible of the nations. Jer_6:23; Hab_1:7.

the pomp of the strong] Or, pride. In Eze_24:21 the pride of their strength, and so LXX. here. Cf. Eze_33:28; Lev_26:19. The spelling of “sanctuaries” is an Aramaism.

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.

Destruction cometh,.... Upon the temple, city, nation, and people; the king of Babylon, the destroyer of the Gentiles, and now of the Jews, being on his way, Jer 4:7;

and they shall seek peace, and there shall be none; that is, the Jews will seek to make peace with the Chaldeans; but the latter will not hearken to them, but go on with the siege, till they have taken the city, put part to the sword, and carried the other captive.

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

The worst of the pagan - The most cruel and terrible of nations - the Chaldaeans.

The pomp of the strong - Compare Lev 26:19 “The strong” are those who pride themselves in imaginary strength.

Their holy places - What elsewhere is called “God’s Holy place” is here “their holy places,” because God disowns the profaned sanctuary. In the marginal rendering “they” must mean “the worst of the pagan.”

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

Sanctuary; the temple of God, or of idols, chap. vi. 3.

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).

The worst; the most violent, proud, and bloody men; such the Chaldeans showed themselves.

Possess; not only dwell in their houses, but by right of conquest account them their own, and descending to theirs after them.

The pomp; the excellency, magnificence, and glory, whatever they boasted of; either literally, the pride, or figuratively, the temple that the Jews gloried in.

Of the strong; of the Jews, who thought Jerusalem too well fortified by art and nature, and the Divine presence, it being the city of God, ever to be overthrown.

Their holy places; all that pertains to their religion, and exercise of it, persons. places, things, which now by their abuse of them are theirs, not mine, shall be polluted.

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

24. The worst of the heathen — Compare Eze_28:7; Eze_30:11. Jeremiah had said (Jer_6:23) the Chaldeans “are cruel, and have no mercy,” and Habakkuk (Hab_1:7), “they are terrible and dreadful.” These Chaldeans shall take possession of the palaces and holy places of the Israelitish nobles, and “the pride of their strength shall cease.”

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

The worst of the heathen; literally, evil ones of the nations with the superlative implied rather than expressed. For the thought, Deu_28:50; Lam_5:11-13; Jer_6:23. The Chaldeans were probably most prominent in the prophet"s thoughts, but Eze_35:5 and Psa_137:7 suggest that there was a side glance at the Edomites. The pomp of the strong, etc. Another echo of Lev_26:31. The "pomp" is that of Judah trusting in her strength. The "holy places" find their chief representative in the temple, but, as the word is used also of a non-Jehovistic worship, (Amo_7:9) may include whatever the people looked on as sanctuaries the "high places" and the like. The Vulgate gives possidebuut sanctuaria; the Revised Version margin, they that sanctify them; but the Authorized Version is probably right in both cases. Luther renders ihre kirchen, which reminds us of Act_19:37.

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

The pomp - The magnificence and glory, wherein they boasted; or the temple that the Jews gloried in.

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

the most wicked of the nations Heb. רָעֵי גוֹיִם. The most wicked and cruel of the nations.

and they will deliver as an inheritance Heb. וְנִחֲלוּ, they will give over to others as an inheritance.

their meeting places Heb. מְקַדְשֵׁיהֶם. The temples of the high places, where they would gather at appointed times; an expression of a house of their appointment.

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.