Verse-by-Verse Bible Commentary
Ezekiel 7:22

Clarke's Commentary

Verse Ezekiel 7:22. 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.

Bridgeway Bible Commentary

The end is near (7:1-27)

Many Jews thought that Jerusalem would never be conquered. Ezekiel announced with certainty that the city would fall. God had been longsuffering and merciful, and had saved the city many times, but the people stubbornly refused to repent. Now the time for God’s judgment had come (7:1-4). One disaster would follow another, till the wicked city was destroyed (5-9).
As a tree blossoms, so Jerusalem’s sin was full-grown. The city was about to fall; rich and poor were about to lose everything. Therefore, a buyer was not to rejoice in a good deal he had made, nor a seller mourn because he had lost his property. Neither was the seller to hope that one day he would regain his property (10-13).
The citizens of Jerusalem might prepare for battle, but all such preparation would be useless. Jerusalem was doomed (14). People trapped in the besieged city would die of starvation. Those in the fields and villages outside would be killed by enemy soldiers. Any who managed to escape would only face a miserable existence in their mountain hiding places (15-16). Everywhere there would be a feeling of hopelessness. The money that the Jerusalemites had unjustly gained would be of no use to them when there was no food to buy. In despair they would throw their money away (17-19). Their idols, richly ornamented and expensive, would be stolen by the invaders, and God’s ‘precious place’, the Jerusalem temple, would be profaned as irreverent Babylonian soldiers invaded, plundered and in the end destroyed it (20-22).
Terrified by the violence of the attack, people would look on helplessly as the invaders seized their houses (23-25). Neither religious nor civil leaders would be able to save Jerusalem from being overrun by the hated foreigners. The calamity would be a fitting judgment on the city for its religious rebellion and moral waywardness (26-27).

Coffman's Commentaries on the Bible

“They shall cast their silver in their streets, and their gold shall be as an unclean thing; their silver and their gold shall not be able to deliver them in the day of the wrath of Jehovah: they shall not satisfy their souls, neither fill their bowels; because it hath been the stumbling-block of their iniquity. As for the beauty of his ornament, he set it in majesty; but they made the images of their abominations and their detestable things therein: therefore have I made it unto them as an unclean thing. And I will give it into the hands of strangers for a prey, and to the wicked of the earth for a spoil; and they shall profane it. My face will I turn also from them, and they shall profane my secret place; and robbers shall enter into it and profane it.”

STORED-UP WEALTH WILL BE UNABLE TO DELIVER THEM

The absolute worthlessness of all earthly valuables in a situation where one is confronted with the judgment of God is dramatically set forth here. Keil pointed out that the passage here “is reminiscent of Zephaniah 1:8,”Carl Friedrich Keil, Keil-Delitzsch Old Testament Commentary (Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company), p. 107. a passage describing the Final Judgment. “Silver and gold, nor any other wealth, can save us in the day of Jehovah’s anger.”John Skinner in the Expositor’s Bible Commentary, p. 73.

“Their beautiful ornament” “This is a reference to the silver and gold already mentioned.”F. F. Bruce in the New Layman’s Bible Commentary, p. 869. It was a stumblingblock to them, leading them into iniquity. They used the gold to minister to their pride and to make the images of their abominations.

“My secret place (or my precious place, as in NEB)” “This is a reference to the Temple.”Ibid.

Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible

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

Calvin's Commentary on the Bible

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. (Psalms 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 —

Smith's Bible Commentary

Chapter 7

Moreover the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, Also, thou son of man, thus saith the Lord GOD unto the land of Israel ( Ezekiel 7:1-2 );

Now, the other was to the mountains, now to the land.

the end is come upon the four corners of the land ( Ezekiel 7:2 ).

This is actually written in a poetic form in the Hebrew. It doesn't come through. If you have some modern translations, sometimes they put it out in the poetic form.

Now has the end come upon thee, and I will send my anger upon thee, and will judge thee according to thy ways, and will recompense upon thee all thine abominations ( Ezekiel 7:3 ).

No mercy here, no grace here, but judgment according to their deeds. Recompensing them according to their ways. We thank God for His mercy and for His grace. David prayed, " Have mercy upon me, O God, according to the multitude of Thy tender mercies, blot out my transgressions" ( Psalms 51:1 ). And God is merciful, but if people reject His mercy, then there remains only that certain fearful looking forward to of judgment. So they have rejected the mercies of God. They had done despite to the spirit of grace, and now God pronounces His judgment that is coming upon them according to their abominations.

And my eye shall not spare thee, neither will I have pity [no mercy]: but I will recompense thy ways upon thee, and thine abominations shall be in the midst of thee: and ye shall know that I am the LORD ( Ezekiel 7:4 ).

In contrast to these idols that you have been worshipping, you'll know that I am the Lord.

Thus saith the Lord GOD; An evil, an only evil, behold, is come. An end is come, an end is come: it watcheth for thee; behold, it is come. The morning has come unto thee, O thou that dwellest in the land: the time has come, the day of trouble is near, and not the sounding again of the mountains. Now will I shortly pour out my fury upon thee, and accomplish my anger upon thee: and I will judge thee according to thy ways, and recompense thee for all your abominations. And my eye shall not spare, neither will I have pity: I will recompense thee according to thy ways and thy abominations that are in the midst of thee; and ye shall know that I am the LORD that smiteth ( Ezekiel 7:5-9 ).

Now we find repetition here, and again, as I told you, it is written in Hebrew poetry and Hebrew poetry involves repetition. And that's why in English it gets a little repetitious to us, but in Hebrew it's really very poetic, and in reading it in the Hebrew you get the rhyme of it and you feel the poetry of the thing. You get not the rhyme, but the rhythm of it, and you feel the poetry. There is no rhyme.

Behold the day, behold, it has come: the morning has gone forth; the rod has blossomed, pride has budded. Violence is risen up into the rod into a rod of wickedness: and none of them shall remain, nor of their multitude, nor of any of theirs: neither shall there be any wailing for them. The time has come, the day is drawing near: let not the buyer rejoice, nor the seller mourn: for the wrath is upon all of the multitude thereof. For the seller shall not return to that which is sold ( Ezekiel 7:10-13 ),

Now, in those days quite often the seller had to sell because of financial problems, and so there was always that, "Oh, you know, this is the family's and it's the family inheritance." And they would hate to sell that because when you inherited from your parents the land, it was sort of a holy trust. Your whole goal of life was to pass on to your children that which you received as the inheritance from your family. And so you would devote your whole life to the maintaining of that inheritance so that you could pass it on. Sometimes a person would get strapped, they would have to sell it, but in the deed there was always the reversionary clause--you could always buy it back in a specified period of time by adhering to the covenant that was drawn up at the time that it was sold. Or, if you could not redeem it, then a close relative could redeem it so it remained in the family. So there was usually sorrow involved in the selling of property. It was a holy trust. It was a sacred thing. This is the family's and now I'm selling it. And the buyer, of course, if you could ever buy property, with it was a very happy time, you would rejoice. So he is saying, "Hey, look, the time is at an end. You that are going around buying, you don't need to rejoice in it because you're not going to really have it long. And you that are selling don't really mourn, because you're not going to buy it back again. You won't be able to use your option to repurchase because you're all going to be taken out of the land. So the seller shall not return to that which is sold, you're not going to come back to it."

although they are still alive ( Ezekiel 7:13 ):

But you'll be a captive carried away to Babylon.

for the vision is touching the whole multitude thereof, which will not return; neither shall any strengthen himself in the iniquity of his life. They have blown the trumpet, even to make all ready; but none goeth to battle: for my wrath is upon the multitude thereof ( Ezekiel 7:13-14 ).

Now the blowing of the trumpet really was more than just the summoning of the people to battle, but with Israel it was more or less an acknowledgment that the Lord comes forth to battle with us. But God said, " I'm not coming forth with you any more. You can blow the trumpet; it's not going to do any good. I'm not going to fight for you any longer. You're going to be turned over unto the hands of your enemies."

For the sword is without, the pestilence and the famine is within: and he that is in the field will die with the sword; and he that is in the city, the famine and the pestilence will devour him. But they that escape of them shall escape, and be on the mountains like doves of the valley, all of them mourning, every one for his iniquity ( Ezekiel 7:15-16 ).

So those that escape from the sword and pestilence, scattered throughout the mountains, weeping, mourning, wailing for that which has happened.

All hands shall be feeble, all knees will be as weak as water. They shall also gird themselves with sackcloth, and horror shall cover them; and shame shall be upon all their faces, and baldness upon their heads ( Ezekiel 7:17-18 ).

That is in mourning, the cutting of their hair and all.

They shall cast their silver in the streets, and their gold shall be removed: their silver and their gold shall not be able to deliver them in the day of the wrath of the LORD: they shall not satisfy their souls, neither fill their bowels: because it is a stumblingblock of their iniquity. And as for the beauty of his ornament, he is set in majesty: but they made the images of their abominations and of their detestable things therein: therefore have I set it far from them. And I will give it into the hands of the strangers for a prey, and to the wicked of the earth for a spoil; and they'll pollute it ( Ezekiel 7:19-21 ).

And it's talking about, of course, the sanctuary, the place of majesty and the ornament of beauty, it's is going to be destroyed, polluted.

My face will I turn also from them, they shall pollute my holy place ( Ezekiel 7:22 ):

Actually, the secret place the holy of holies will be profaned and polluted.

for the robbers shall enter into it, and defile it. Make a chain: for the land is full of bloody crimes, and the city is full of violence. Wherefore I will bring the worst of the heathen, and they shall possess their houses: I also will make the pomp of the strong to cease; and their holy places shall be defiled. Destruction comes; and they will seek peace, and there will be none. Mischief shall come upon mischief, and rumor shall be upon rumor; then shall they seek a vision of the prophet; but the law shall perish from the priest, and the counsel from the ancients. The king shall mourn, and the prince shall be clothed with desolation, and the hands of the people of the land shall be troubled: I will do unto them according to their ways, and according to what they deserve will I judge them; and they shall know that I am the LORD ( Ezekiel 7:22-27 ).

This terrible judgment that God is going to bring, as the temple of God is destroyed and profaned. And the people are driven out and killed with the sword, pestilence, and famine.

"

Dr. Constable's Expository Notes

Valuables and food would mean very little then because all that would concern the people would be remaining alive. Money cannot buy food when food is not there. The people had become proud over the glorious splendor of Jerusalem and the temple and, as the height of arrogance, had used some of the temple treasures to make idols. Therefore the Lord would make the temple an abhorrent thing to them and would turn it over to their enemies who would profane it (cf. Daniel 5:3-4).

"Since Israel had already profaned the temple of God, He saw no further purpose in keeping it from the desecration of the enemy." [Note: Feinberg, p. 47.]

The Lord would turn away from His people then.

Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible

My face will one turn also from them,.... Deny them his presence, and withdraw his protection from them; show them no favour, nor afford them any help and succour in their distress, when they cry unto him; so the Targum,

"I will cause my Shechinah to remove from them:''

unless the Chaldeans are meant, as some think, whose robberies and ravages the Lord would wink at, and not restrain, but suffer them to plunder and spoil at pleasure: since it follows,

and they shall pollute my secret [place]; the holy of holies, by going into it, which none but the high priest might do, and he but once a year; though the Targum understands this of the Jews, and makes it to be a reason of what is threatened in the preceding clause, rendering it thus,

"because they have profaned the land of the house of my Shechinah:''

for the robbers shall enter into it, and defile it; as did the king of Babylon and his army; and afterwards, in the second temple, Antiochus, Pompey, and Titus Vespasian.

Henry's Complete Commentary on the Bible

      16 But they that escape of them shall escape, and shall be on the mountains like doves of the valleys, all of them mourning, every one for his iniquity.   17 All hands shall be feeble, and all knees shall be weak as water.   18 They shall also gird themselves with sackcloth, and horror shall cover them; and shame shall be upon all faces, and baldness upon all their heads.   19 They shall cast their silver in the streets, and their gold shall be removed: their silver and their gold shall not be able to deliver them in the day of the wrath of the LORD: they shall not satisfy their souls, neither fill their bowels: because it is the stumbling-block of their iniquity.   20 As for the beauty of his ornament, he set it in majesty: but they made the images of their abominations and of their detestable things therein: therefore have I set it far from them.   21 And I will give it into the hands of the strangers for a prey, and to the wicked of the earth for a spoil; and they shall pollute it.   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.

      We have attended the fate of those that are cut off, and are now to attend the flight of those that have an opportunity of escaping the danger; some of them shall escape (Ezekiel 7:16; Ezekiel 7:16), but what the better? As good die once as, in a miserable life, die a thousand deaths, and escape only like Cain to be fugitives and vagabonds, and afraid of being slain by every one they meet; so shall these be.

      I. They shall have no comfort or satisfaction in their own minds, but be in continual anguish and terror; for, wherever they go, they carry about with them guilty consciences, which make them a burden to themselves. 1. They shall be always solitary and under prevailing melancholy; they shall not be in the cities, or places of concourse, but all alone upon the mountains, not caring for society, but shy of it, as being ashamed of the low circumstances to which they are reduced. 2. They shall be always sorrowful. Those have reason to be so that are under the tokens of God's displeasure; and God can make those so that have been most jovial and have set sorrow at defiance. Those that once thought themselves as the lions of the mountains, so daring were they, now become as the doves of the valleys, so timid are they, and so dispirited, ready to flee when none pursues and to tremble at the shaking of a leaf. They are all of them mourning (not with a godly sorrow, but with the sorrow of the world, which works death), every one for his iniquity, that is, for those calamities which they now see their iniquity has brought upon them, not only the iniquity of the land, but their own: they shall then be brought to acknowledge what they have each of them contributed to the national guilt. Note, Sooner or later sin will have sorrow of one kind or other; and those that will not repent of their iniquity may justly be left to pine away in it; those that will not mourn for it as it is an offence to God shall be made to mourn for it as it is a shame and ruin to themselves, to mourn at the last, when the flesh and the body are consumed, and to say, How have I hated instruction!Proverbs 5:11; Proverbs 5:12. 3. They shall be deprived of all their strength of body and mind (Ezekiel 7:17; Ezekiel 7:17): All hands shall be feeble, so that they shall not be able to fight, or defend themselves, and all knees shall be weak as water, so that they shall neither be able to flee nor to stand their ground; they shall feel a universal colliquation: their knees shall flow as water, so that they must fall of course. Note, It is folly for the strong man to glory in his strength, for God can soon weaken it. 4. They shall be deprived of all their hopes and shall abandon themselves to despair (Ezekiel 7:18; Ezekiel 7:18); they shall have nothing to hold up their spirits with; their aspects shall show what are their prospects, all dreadful, for they shall gird themselves with sackcloth, as having no expectation ever to wear better clothing. Horror shall cover them, and shame, and baldness, all the expressions of a desperate sorrow, Isaiah 17:11. Note, Those that will not be kept from sin by fear and shame shall by fear and shame be punished for it; such is the confusion that sin will end in.

      II. They shall have no benefit from their wealth and riches, but shall be perfectly sick of them, Ezekiel 7:19; Ezekiel 7:19. Those that were reduced to this distress were such as had had abundance of silver and gold, money, and plate, and jewels, and other valuable goods, from which they promised themselves a great deal of advantage in times of public trouble. They thought their wealth would be their strong city, that with it they could bribe enemies and buy friends, that it would be the ransom of their lives, that they could never want bread as long as they had money, and that money would answer all things; but see how it proved. 1. Their wealth had been a great temptation to them in the day of their prosperity; they set their affections upon it, and put their confidence in it. By their eager pursuit of it they were drawn into sin, and by their plentiful enjoyment of it they were hardened in sin; and thus it was the stumbling-block of their iniquity; it occasioned their falling into sin and obstructed their return to God. Note, There are many whose wealth is their snare and ruin. The gaining of the world is the losing of their souls; it makes them proud, secure, covetous, oppressive, voluptuous; and that which, it well used, might have been the servant of their piety, being abused, becomes the stumbling-block of their iniquity. 2. It was no relief to them now in the day of their adversity; for, (1.) Their gold and silver could not protect them from the judgments of God. They shall not be able to deliver them in the day of the wrath of the Lord; they shall not serve to atone his justice, or turn away his wrath, nor to screen them from the judgments he is bringing upon them. Note, Riches profit not in the day of wrath,Proverbs 11:4. They neither set them so high that god's judgments cannot reach them nor make them so strong that they cannot conquer them. There is a day of wrath coming, when it will appear that men's wealth is utterly unable to deliver them or do them any service. What the better was the rich man for his full barns when his soul was required of him, or that other rich man for his purple, and scarlet, and sumptuous fare, when in hell he could not procure a drop of water to cool his tongue? Money is no defence against the arrests of death, nor any alleviation to the miseries of the damned. (2.) Their gold and silver could not give them any content under their calamities. [1.] They could not fill their bowels; when there was no bread left in the city, none to be had for love or money, their silver and gold could not satisfy their hunger, nor serve to make one meal's meat for them. Note, We could better be without mines of gold than fields of corn; the products of the earth, which may easily be gathered from the surface of it, are much greater blessings to mankind than its treasures, which are with so much difficulty and hazard dug out of its bowels. If God give us daily bread, we have reason to be thankful, and no reason to complain, though silver and gold we have none. [2.] Much less could they satisfy their souls, or yield them any inward comfort. Note, The wealth of this world has not that in it which will answer the desires of the soul, or be any satisfaction to it in a day of distress. He that loves silver shall not be satisfied with silver, much less he that loses it. (3.) Their gold and silver shall be thrown into the streets, either by the hands of the enemy, who shall have more spoil than they care for or can carry away (silver shall be nothing accounted of; they shall cast that in the streets; but the gold, which is more valuable, shall be removed and brought to Babylon); or they themselves shall throw away their silver and gold, because it would be an incumbrance to them and retard their flight, or because it would expose them and be a temptation to the enemy to cut their throats for their money, or in indignation at it, because, after all the care and pains they had taken to scrape it together and hoard it up, they found that it would stand them in no stead, but do them a mischief rather. Note, The world passes away, and the lusts thereof,1 John 2:17. The time may come when worldly men will be as weary of their wealth as now they are wedded to it, when those will fare best that have least.

      III. God's temple shall stand them in no stead, Ezekiel 7:20-22; Ezekiel 7:20-22. This they had prided themselves in, and promised themselves security from (Jeremiah 7:4; Micah 3:11); but this confidence of theirs shall fail them. Observe, 1. The great honour God had done to that people in setting up his sanctuary among them (Ezekiel 7:20; Ezekiel 7:20): As for the beauty of his ornament, that holy and beautiful house, where they and their fathers praised God (Isaiah 64:11), which was therefore beautiful because holy (it was called the beauty of holiness, and holiness is the beauty of its ornament; it was also adorned with gold and gifts)--as for this, he set it in majesty; every thing was contrived to make it magnificent, that it might help to make the people of Israel the more illustrious among their neighbours. He built his sanctuary like high palaces,Psalms 78:69. It was a glorious high throne from the beginning,Jeremiah 17:12. But, 2. Here is the great dishonour they had done to God in profaning his sanctuary; they made the images of their counterfeit deities, which they set up in rivalship with God, and which are here called their abominations and their detestable things (for so they were to God, and so they should have been to them), and these they set up in God's temple, than which a greater affront could not be put upon him. And therefore, 3. It is here threatened that they shall be deprived of the temple, and it shall be no succour to them: Therefore have I set it far from them, that is, sent them far from it, so that it is out of the reach of their services and they are out of the reach of its influences. Note, God's ordinances, and the privileges of a profession of religion, will justly be taken away from those that despise and profane them. Nay, they shall not only be kept at a distance from the temple, but the temple itself shall be involved in the common desolation (Ezekiel 7:21; Ezekiel 7:21); the Chaldeans, who are strangers, and therefore have no veneration for it, who are the wicked of the earth, and therefore have an antipathy to it, shall have it for a prey and for a spoil; all the ornaments and treasures of it shall fall into their hands, who will make no difference between that and other plunder. This was a grief to the saints in Zion, who complained of nothing so much as of that which the enemy did wickedly in the sanctuary (Psalms 74:3); but it was the punishment of the sinners in Zion, who, by profaning the temple with strange gods, provoked God to suffer it to be profaned by strange nations, and to turn his face from those that did it as if he had not seen them and their crimes and from those that deprecated it as not regarding them and their prayers. Let the soldiers do as they will; let them enter into the secret place, into the holy of holies, as robbers; let them strip it, let them pollute it; its defence has departed, and then farewell all its glory. Note, Those are unworthy to be honoured with the form of godliness who will not be governed by the power of godliness.