Ezekiel 14

Ezekiel 14:1-23 . HYPOCRITICAL INQUIRERS ARE ANSWERED ACCORDING TO THEIR HYPOCRISY. THE CALAMITIES COMING ON THE PEOPLE; BUT A REMNANT IS TO ESCAPE.

1. elders--persons holding that dignity among the exiles at the Chebar. GROTIUS refers this to Seraiah and those sent with him from Judea ( Jeremiah 51:59 ). The prophet's reply, first, reflecting on the character of the inquirers, and, secondly, foretelling the calamities coming on Judea, may furnish an idea of the subject of their inquiry.
sat before me--not at once able to find a beginning of their speech; indicative of anxiety and despondency.

3. heart . . . face--The heart is first corrupted, and then the outward manifestation of idol-worship follows; they set their idols before their eyes. With all their pretense of consulting God now, they have not even put away their idols outwardly; implying gross contempt of God. "Set up," literally, "aloft"; implying that their idols had gained the supreme ascendancy over them.
stumbling-block of . . . iniquity--See Proverbs 3:21 Proverbs 3:23 , "Let not them (God's laws) depart from thine eyes, then . . . thy foot shall not stumble." Instead of God's law, which (by being kept before their eyes) would have saved them from stumbling, they set up their idols before their eyes, which proved a stumbling-block, causing them to stumble ( Ezekiel 7:19 ).
inquired of at all--literally, "should I with inquiry be inquired of" by such hypocrites as they are? ( Psalms 66:18 , Proverbs 15:29 , 28:9 ).

4. and cometh--and yet cometh, reigning himself to be a true worshipper of Jehovah.
him that cometh--so the Hebrew Margin reads. But the Hebrew text reading is, "according to it, according to the multitude of his idols"; the anticipative clause with the pronoun not being pleonastic, but increasing the emphasis of the following clause with the noun. "I will answer," literally, reflexively, "I will Myself (or for Myself) answer him."
according to . . . idols--thus, "answering a fool according to his folly"; making the sinner's sin his punishment; retributive justice ( Proverbs 1:31 , 26:5 ).

5. That I may take--that is, unveil and overtake with punishment the dissimulation and impiety of Israel hid in their own heart. Or, rather, "That I may punish them by answering them after their own hearts"; corresponding to "according to the multitude Ezekiel 14:9 , Romans 1:28 , 2 Thessalonians 2:11 , God giving them up in wrath to their own lie.
idols--though pretending. to "inquire" of Me, "in their hearts" they are "estranged from Me," and love "idols."

6. Though God so threatened the people for their idolatry ( Ezekiel 14:5 ), yet He would rather they should avert the calamity by "repentance."
turn yourselves--CALVIN translates, "turn others" (namely, the stranger proselytes in the land). As ye have been the advisers of others (see Ezekiel 14:7 , "the stranger that sojourneth in Israel") to idolatry, so bestow at least as much pains in turning them to the truth; the surest proof of repentance. But the parallelism to Ezekiel 14:3 Ezekiel 14:4 favors English Version. Their sin was twofold: (1) "In their heart" or inner man; (2) "Put before their face," that is, exhibited outwardly. So their repentance is generally expressed by "repent," and is then divided into: (1) "Turn yourselves (inwardly) from your idols"; (2) "Turn away your faces (outwardly) from all your abominations." It is not likely that an exhortation to convert others should come between the two affecting themselves.