Ezekiel 20:7

7 then said I unto them: "Cast away every man of ye the abominations of his eyes, and defile not yourselves with the idols of Egypt: I am the LORD your God."

Ezekiel 20:7 Meaning and Commentary

Ezekiel 20:7

Then I said unto them
Having promised and swore to do such great and good things for them; which must lay them under an obligation to regard what he should command them: promises and blessings of goodness are great incentives to duty, and lay under great obligation to it: cast ye away every man the abominations of his eyes;
which should be so, meaning idols; but which his eyes were taken with, and were lifted up unto, as his gods; though they ought to have been rejected with the utmost abhorrence, as abominable: and defile not yourselves with the idols of Egypt;
their "dunghill gods", as the word F6 signifies; which to worship, as it was an abomination to God, was defiling to themselves; yet these they were fond of, and prone to worship them; their eyes and their hearts were after them; and they needed such cautions and instructions as these, backed with the following strong reason against such idolatry: I [am] the Lord your God;
their Creator and Benefactor, their covenant God; the only Lord God, and whom only they ought to serve and worship; to whom they were under ten thousand obligations; and who was infinitely above all the idols of Egypt.


FOOTNOTES:

F6 (ylwlgb) "stercoreis diis", Junius & Tremellius, Polanus; "stercoribus", Piscator, Cocceius.

Ezekiel 20:7 In-Context

5 and say unto them, `Thus saith the Lord GOD: On 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 LORD your God"--
6 on the day that I lifted up Mine hand unto them to bring them forth out 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 away every man of ye the abominations of his eyes, and defile not yourselves with the idols of Egypt: I am the LORD your God."
8 But they rebelled against Me and would not hearken 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.
Third Millennium Bible (TMB), New Authorized Version, Copyright 1998 by Deuel Enterprises, Inc., Gary, SD 57237. All rights reserved.