EZEKIEL
CHAPTER 20
From their deliverance from Egypt to the day of Ezekiel, Israel have rebelled and failed to keep the commandments—In the last days, the Lord shall gather Israel and restore his gospel covenant.
1 AND it came to pass in the seventh year, in the fifth month, the tenth day of the month, that certain of the elders of Israel came to enquire of the LORD, and sat before me.
3 son of man, speak unto the elders of Israel, and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Are ye come to enquire of me? As I live, saith the Lord GOD, I will not be enquired of by you.
4 Wilt thou judge them, son of man, wilt thou judge them? cause them to know the abominations of their fathers:
5 ¶ And say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; In the day when I chose Israel, and lifted up mine hand unto the seed of the house of Jacob, and made myself known unto them in the land of Egypt, when I lifted up mine hand unto them, saying, I am [ “The Hebrew, Ehyeh, signifying I Am, is related in meaning and through derivation with the term Yahveh or Jehovah. The central fact connoted by this name, I Am, or Jehovah, the two having essentially the same meaning, is that of existence or duration that shall have no end, and which, judged by all human standards of reckoning, could have had no beginning; the name is related to such other titles as Alpha and Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end.” James E. Talmage. “Jesus the Christ ”] the cLORD your God;
6 In the day that I lifted up mine hand unto them, to bring them forth of the land of Egypt into a land that I had espied for them, flowing with milk and honey, which is the glory of all lands:
7 Then said I unto them, Cast ye away every man the abominations of his eyes, and defile not yourselves with the idols of Egypt: I am [ “The Hebrew, Ehyeh, signifying I Am, is related in meaning and through derivation with the term Yahveh or Jehovah. The central fact connoted by this name, I Am, or Jehovah, the two having essentially the same meaning, is that of existence or duration that shall have no end, and which, judged by all human standards of reckoning, could have had no beginning; the name is related to such other titles as Alpha and Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end.” James E. Talmage. “Jesus the Christ ”] the LORD your God.
8 But they rebelled against me, and would not hearken [ Hebrew "Shema" is translated here as hearken which means to "listen" and "obey". ] unto me: they did not every man cast away the abominations of their eyes, neither did they forsake the idols of Egypt: then I said, I will pour out my fury upon them, to accomplish my anger against them in the midst of the land of Egypt.
9 But I wrought for my name’s sake, that it should not be polluted before the heathen, among whom they were, in whose sight I made myself known unto them, in bringing them forth out of the land of Egypt.
10 ¶ Wherefore I caused them to go forth out of the land of Egypt, and brought them into the wilderness.
11 And I gave them my statutes, and shewed them my judgments, which if a man do, he shall even live in them.
12 Moreover also I gave them my sabbaths, to be a sign between me and them, that they might know that I am the LORD that sanctify them.
13 But the house of Israel rebelled against me in the wilderness: they walked not in my statutes, and they despised my judgments, which if a man do, he shall even live in them; and my sabbaths they greatly polluted: then I said, I would pour out my fury upon them in the wilderness, to consume them.
14 But I wrought for my name’s sake, that it should not be polluted before the heathen, in whose sight I brought them out.
15 Yet also I lifted up my hand unto them in the wilderness, that I would not bring them into the land which I had given them, flowing with milk and honey, which is the glory of all lands;
16 Because they despised my judgments, and walked not in my statutes, but polluted my sabbaths: for their heart went after their idols.
17 Nevertheless mine eye spared them from destroying them, neither did I make an end of them in the wilderness.
18 But I said unto their children in the wilderness, Walk ye not in the statutes of your fathers, neither observe their judgments, nor defile yourselves with their idols:
20 And hallow my sabbaths; and they shall be a sign between me and you, that ye may know that I am the LORD your God.
21 Notwithstanding the children rebelled against me: they walked not in my statutes, neither kept my judgments to do them, which if a man do, he shall even live in them; they polluted my sabbaths: then I said, I would pour out my fury upon them, to accomplish my anger against them in the wilderness.
22 Nevertheless I withdrew mine hand, and wrought for my name’s sake, that it should not be polluted in the sight of the heathen, in whose sight I brought them forth.
23 I lifted up mine hand unto them also in the wilderness, that I would scatter them among the heathen, [ The gentiles. ] and disperse them through the countries;
[ Nations of the earth. ]
24 Because they had not executed my judgments, b [ HEB: "executed my ordinances". ] but had despised my statutes, [ HEB:"his laws". ] and had polluted my sabbaths, [ Did not keep the sabbath day holy. ] and their eyes were after their fathers’ idols. [ They worshipped other Gods before me. ]
25 Wherefore I gave them also statutes [ HEB:"laws". ] that were not good, and judgments whereby they should not live;
[ This is a Hebrew idiom meaning that God allows them to act this way because of their agency. (Jacob 4:14) ]
26 And I polluted them in their own gifts, in that they caused to pass through the fire all that openeth the womb, [ The first born. ] that I might make them desolate, to the end that they might know that I am the LORD. [ Speaking or rather telling them why he God scattered Israel. ]
27 ¶ Therefore, son of man, speak unto the house of Israel, and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Yet in this your fathers have blasphemed me, in that they have committed a trespass against me.
28 For when I had brought them into the land, for the which I lifted up mine hand to give it to them, then they saw every high hill, and all the thick trees, and they offered there their sacrifices, and there they presented the provocation of their offering: there also they made their sweet savour, and poured out there their drink offerings.
29 Then I said unto them, What is the high place whereunto ye go? And the name thereof is called Bamah unto this day.
30 Wherefore say unto the house of Israel, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Are ye polluted after the manner of your fathers? and commit ye whoredom after their abominations?
31 For when ye offer your gifts, when ye make your sons to pass through the fire, ye pollute yourselves with all your idols, even unto this day: and shall I be enquired of by you, O house of Israel? As I live, saith the Lord GOD, I will not be enquired of by you.
32 And that which cometh into your mind shall not be at all, that ye say, We will be as the heathen, as the families of the countries, to serve wood and stone.
[ God is now going to address the gathering of Israel. ]
33 ¶ As I live, [ God is re-emphasizing that there is nothing greater than his eternal covenant. ] saith the Lord GOD, surely with a mighty hand, and with a stretched out arm, [ Or with power. ] and with fury poured out, will I rule over you:
34 And I [ God, God is the one who will lead the gathering. ] will bring you out from the people, and will gather you out of the countries wherein ye are scattered, [ This is a world wide gathering of which God is in charge of. Israel will be brought out from among all of the nations of the world in which they have been scattered. ] with a mighty hand, and with a stretched out arm, and with fury poured out.
[ (D&C 1:4-5 None will stop the gathering of Israel.) ]
35 And I will bring you into the wilderness of the people, [ Referring to the people at the time of Moses. This was a period in which God disciplined the children of Israel in preparation for them to enter the promised land. So he will do this again with the righteous before he prepares his kingdom to return. This is taking place right now. People are forsaking the kingdom for multitudes of reasons: some think that the church is trying to hide things - Joseph Smith did not tell the whole truth, the brethren are not really explaining everything - the list goes on. But all they are is clever arguments and ploys to undermine the brethren and weaken our faith. When you think about it the Savior or God himself is under no obligation to explain to us the reason for every command that he makes to us. We are here to learn by exercising our faith. ] and there will I plead with you face to face. [ This is what God wanted to do with the children of Israel on the mount that he had led them too. He wanted them to sanctify themselves and come to the top of the mountain to receive their endowment, the higher priesthood and see him face to face, but we know what happened. ]
36 Like as I pleaded with your fathers [ His mission never changes, as he did with the children of Israel in the wilderness, he tried to get them to come receive all that he has to offer, he tried everything that he could do. In the end they exercised their agency, God respected that, but the children of Israel lost out. ] in the wilderness of the land of Egypt, so will I plead with you, [ I am trying to do the same thing for you here. Gods mission is always to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man, that never changes, and he is always consistent in his effort to do that. To accomplish that however he must disipline his children from time to tim, he has to let them wander in the wilderness for a while until they are ready. I suppose that this will be the same in the latter days, the Lord may cause us to wander in the wilderness for a period to finish the humbling process with us as a church. ] saith the Lord GOD.
37 And I will cause you to pass under the rod, [ Or the shepherds rod which was used to count or number the sheep. The Lord knows his sheep. (Amos 9:9 ) ] and I will bring you into the bond of the covenant: [ The covenants that unite us with God. THe scriptures provide many examples of those who keep their covenants with God grow in strength and power with and in God. ]
38 And I will purge out from among you the rebels, and them that transgress against me: [ This is the explanation for verse 35 or the reason why God will disipline his people and let them wander in the wilderness for a time. ] I will bring them forth out of the country where they sojourn, and they shall not enter into the land of Israel: [ Not until they have been disciplined, they have humbled themsleves and are ready to be a righteous people will they get their inheritance in the promised land. ] and ye shall know that I am the LORD.
39 As for you, O house of Israel, thus saith the Lord GOD; Go ye, serve ye every one his idols, and hereafter also, if ye will not hearken [ Hebrew "Shema" is translated here as hearken which means to "listen" and "obey". ] unto me: but pollute ye my holy name no more with your gifts, and with your idols.
[ Or if you will continue to do as I have asked you will be blessed by me, but in the end you are free to choose. You can choose the true God and his blessings or your idols and those blessings. So God confirms that he will respect them and their agency, but the blessings are accounted according to the selected decision. ]
40 For in mine holy mountain, [ Temple context. ] in the mountain of the height of Israel, saith the Lord GOD, there shall all the house of Israel, all of them in the land, serve me: there will I accept them, and there will I require your offerings, and the firstfruits of your oblations, [ Full devotion to the Lord. However; in a lessor sense it means tithes and offerrings. (D&C 59:12)] with all your holy things.
41 I will accept you with your sweet savour, [ Or pleasant. ] when I bring you out from the people, [ When he has gathered them out from the nations of the earth. ] and gather you out of the countries wherein ye have been scattered; and I will be sanctified in you before the heathen. [ The gentiles. (Isaiah 11:11) ]
42 And ye shall know that I am the LORD, when I shall bring you into the land of Israel, into the country for the which I lifted up mine hand [ Lifting up my hand - is to make a covenant. ] to give it to your fathers.
[ What did God covenant with the fathers? That they and their righteous seed would be given the land that was covenanted with Abraham. The father is Abraham, the fathers is Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. ]
43 And there shall ye remember your ways, and all your doings, wherein ye have been defiled; and ye shall lothe yourselves in your own sight for all your evils that ye have committed.
44 And ye shall know that I am the LORD, when I have wrought with you for my name’s sake, not according to your wicked ways, nor according to your corrupt doings, O ye house of Israel, saith the Lord GOD. [ God is suggesting that God does not deal with mean as often as they deserve. Why? Because he is a merciful God, that deals kindly abd with great love for his children, as he gives us time to repent. ]
46 son of man, set thy face toward the south, and drop thy word toward the south, and prophesy against the forest of the south field;
47 And say to the forest of the south, Hear the word of the LORD; Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I will kindle a fire in thee, and it shall devour every green tree in thee, and every dry tree: the flaming flame shall not be quenched, and all faces from the south to the north shall be burned therein.