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Commentaries and Other Bible Study Helps - Prayer Tents - Prayer Tents
20:1-44 Learning from History. A deputation of elders is the occasion for an oracle. The end of this section is marked by a chapter division in the Hebrew Bible (20:45 is 21:1 in the MT), because the episode triggered by the visit is completed by 20:44. The sprawling oracle is comprised of two main phases: a review of Israel's history is the vehicle for the oracle in vv. 1-31, and one of the rare restoration passages in the first half of Ezekiel builds on it in vv. 33-44 (v. 32 seems to stand apart from this structure). Shared vocabulary and themes provide an overall unity for the section. Thus the pattern of the whole--diagnosis of behavior offensive to God, plus an appeal to look to a renewed future--is consistent with both chs. 17 and 18.
20:1-31 Looking to the Past. This recital of Israel's history by the inspired prophet is unique in the Bible, involving a very different interpretation of both the nature of the exodus experience and God's dealings with his people. Although some perceive tension between this presentation of the generations and that of ch. 18, still throughout ch. 20 each generation experiences God's wrath for its own actions, and divine forbearance is related solely to God's own reputation. Significantly, the narration focuses entirely on life outside the Promised Land--an important consideration for an audience of exiles. Absentees are also significant. There is no room for Moses or Joshua here, pointing to Ezekiel's "God-centeredness." Nor are any neighbors mentioned who tempted Israel to sin. Their rebellion was their own. Literary structure proves difficult. Varied analyses of the passage have been offered; none commands universal agreement. The complicating factor appears to be the repetition of phrases compounded by the cyclical nature of Ezekiel's story: divine actions are both initiating and responding, but a "response" also may prove to be an "initiative."
20:1-4 This is the third occasion on which elders seek an oracle (see also 8:1; 14:1). Their inquiry is to be denied. Justification for this "silence" comes in the form of historical recital. The narrative frame begun in 20:1-4 finds its conclusion in vv. 27-31.
20:1-3 The date formula locates this oracle in has passed since the temple vision (see 8:1). The command to speak is renewed in 20:27.
20:5-26 Israel's story is told in five broad movements: the author describes the exodus generation first in Egypt (vv. 5-8), then in the exodus itself (vv. 9-13), and then in the wilderness (vv. 14-17). The story of the wilderness generation follows in two phases (vv. 18-21, 22-26). This outline is at best an approximation, as the narrative is fluid. Locating Israel's rebellion in Egypt itself marks out Ezekiel's interpretation of Israel's history from any other in the Bible. Likewise, although rebellion in the wilderness is known elsewhere (e.g., Psalm 106), there is nowhere the sort of "alluring" that Hosea describes (Hosea 2). In Ezekiel's view, there were no "good old days."
20:5-8 Although reference to Jacob (v. 5) makes clear there is a prehistory, Ezekiel's narrative begins in Egypt. The pattern, repeated with variations in the successive sections, sees divine initiative (vv. 5-6) that requires action on Israel's part (v. 7), then God being spurned (v. 8a), which in turn brings divine judgment (v. 8b).
20:5 I swore, lit., "I raised my hand"; cf. Ps. 106:26, where a more expansive translation is offered.
20:9-13 But I acted for the sake of my name (v. 9; cf. vv. 14, 22) strikes one of the insistent notes in Ezekiel, that God's reputation, not Israel's merit, is the basis for forbearance and grace. This phase includes the law-giving at Sinai (v. 10). Verse 11 (cf. vv. 13, 21) echoes Lev. 18:5 (see note there). The emphasis on Sabbaths (Ezek. 20:12) is another distinctive of this recital (see also vv. 13, 16, 20, 21, 24).
20:14-17 This phase shows some variations in wording, as the main formulas of this passage are missing, but the concepts remain. The parallels of vv. 6 and 15 envelop the story of the exodus generation.
20:18-21 Passing on to their children (v. 18), that is, the wilderness generation, gives another opportunity for faithful covenant living (vv. 19-20), which is again spurned (v. 21).
20:22-26 The final phase in the history includes a passage notoriously difficult to understand. Although the giving of laws in v. 11 held out the possibility of life, in v. 25 God asserts that he gave Israel statutes that were not good and rules by which they could not have life. The Mosaic laws were in fact good and were the means by which the people could enjoy God's presence and blessing among them. The laws that were "not good" refer rather to the infiltration of pagan customs of the surrounding nations, with which the people of Israel increasingly aligned their understanding of their own law. Verse 26, offering up all their firstborn (cf. v. 31), points this way. This phase is analogous to God giving up people to their own idolatrous desires and the consequences thereof (Num. 11:4-6, 31-35; Rom. 1:24, 26, 28; cf. Acts 7:42).
20:27-31 As Ezekiel turns from recitation to application, life on the land itself is in view for the first time. On worship on the high places (vv. 28-29), see note on 6:3. The appeal of 20:30 to be morally distinct from preceding generations resonates with 18:30-31, although the consistent rebellion is overtly the reason for God's refusing inquiry (20:31b). Still, the story of rebellion outside the land holds within it multiple instances of divine forbearance. This grace contains the seed from which the next section grows.
20:32 Unthinkable Idolatry. This isolated verse acts as a pivot between the history of the preceding passage and the future orientation that follows. It is encouragement to heed the warning of Deut. 28:64.
20:33-44 Looking to the Future. The structure of two phases in the wilderness finds its mirror image in two phases of restoration: vv. 33-38 use exodus/wilderness motifs as the community is purified; vv. 39-44 focus on worship, in a reversal of ritual behavior in the land (vv. 27-31). Both movements here parallel the "bringing out" in the historical recital (vv. 5, 22 and 34, 41).
20:33-38 The history recited in vv. 5-26 is now compressed into a symbolic future for the exilic community, although with wrath poured out (vv. 33, 34) and judgment expressed (vv. 35, 36) it is not yet the idealized future of 11:14-20 or even 17:22-24.
20:39-44 With gathering complete, the worship life of the renewed community comes into focus. The contrast with the defiling practices of vv. 26 and 28 is complete. The lingering shame (v. 43) is consistent with the restoration picture in 16:54, 61. God's own reputation is supremely the reason for the restoration of God's people (20:44).
20:40 The holy mountain as the place of God's renewed presence with his people is especially prominent in the latter chapters of Isaiah (e.g., Isa. 56:7; 66:20), and its height is celebrated in the psalms of Zion (cf. Ps. 48:1-3).
