Ezekiel 7

16. ( Ezekiel 6:6 ).
like doves--which, though usually frequenting the valleys, mount up to the mountains when fearing the bird-catcher ( Psalms 11:1 ). So Israel, once dwelling in its peaceful valleys, shall flee from the foe to the mountains, which, as being the scene of its idolatries, were justly to be made the scene of its flight and shame. The plaintive note of the dove ( Isaiah 59:11 ) represents the mournful repentance of Israel hereafter ( Zechariah 12:10-12 ).

17. shall be weak as water--literally, "shall go (as) waters"; incapable of resistance ( Joshua 7:5 , Psalms 22:14 , Isaiah 13:7 ).

18. cover them--as a garment.
baldness--a sign of mourning ( Isaiah 3:24 , Jeremiah 48:37 , Micah 1:16 ).

19. cast . . . silver in . . . streets--just retribution; they had abused their silver and gold by converting them into idols, "the stumbling-block of their iniquity" ( Ezekiel 14:3 Ezekiel 14:4 , that is, an occasion of sinning); so these silver and gold idols, so far from "being able to deliver them in the day of the Lord's wrath" (see Proverbs 11:4 ), shall, in despair, be cast by them into the streets as a prey to the foe, by whom they shall be "removed" (GROTIUS translates as the Margin, "shall be despised as an unclean thing"); or rather, as suits the parallelism, "shall be put away from them" by the Jews [CALVIN]. "They (the silver and gold) shall not satisfy their souls," that is, their cravings of appetite and other needs.

20. beauty of his ornament--the temple of Jehovah, the especial glory of the Jews, as a bride glories in her ornaments (the very imagery used by God as to the temple, Ezekiel 16:10 Ezekiel 16:11 ). Compare Ezekiel 24:21 : "My sanctuary, the excellency of your strength, the desire of your eyes."
images . . . therein--namely, in the temple ( Ezekiel 8:3-17 ).
set it far from them--God had "set" the temple (their "beauty of ornament") "for His majesty"; but they had set up "abominations therein"; therefore God, in just retribution, "set it far from them," (that is, removed them far from it, or took it away from them [VATABLUS]). The Margin translates, "Made it unto them an unclean thing" (compare Margin on Ezekiel 7:19 , "removed"); what I designed for their glory they turned to their shame, therefore I will make it turn to their ignominy and ruin.

21. strangers--barbarous and savage nations.

22. pollute my secret place--just retribution for the Jews' pollution of the temple. "Robbers shall enter and defile" the holy of holies, the place of God's manifested presence, entrance into which was denied even to the Levites and priests and was permitted to the high priest only once a year on the great day of atonement.

23. chain--symbol of the captivity (compare Jeremiah 27:2 ). As they enchained the land with violence, so shall they be chained themselves. It was customary to lead away captives in a row with a chain passed from the neck of one to the other. Therefore translate as the Hebrew requires, "the chain," namely, that usually employed on such occasions. CALVIN explains it, that the Jews should be dragged, whether they would or no, before God's tribunal to be tried as culprits in chains. The next words favor this: "bloody crimes," rather, "judgment of bloods," that is, with blood sheddings deserving the extreme judicial penalty. Compare Jeremiah 51:9 : "Her judgment reacheth unto heaven."

24. worst of the heathen--literally, "wicked of the nations"; the giving up of Israel to their power will convince the Jews that this is a final overthrow.
pomp of . . . strong--the pride wherewith men "stiff of forehead" despise the prophet.
holy places--the sacred compartments of the temple ( Psalms 68:35 , Jeremiah 51:51 ) [CALVIN]. God calls it "their holy places," because they had so defiled it that He regarded it no longer as His. However, as the defilement of the temple has already been mentioned ( Ezekiel 7:20 Ezekiel 7:22 ), and "their sacred places" are introduced as a new subject, it seems better to understand this of the places dedicated to their idols. As they defiled God's sanctuary, He will defile their self-constituted "sacred places."

25. peace, and . . . none--( 1 Thessalonians 5:3 ).

26. Mischief . . . upon . . . mischief--( Deuteronomy 32:23 , Jeremiah 4:20 ). This is said because the Jews were apt to fancy, at every abatement of suffering, that their calamities were about to cease; but God will accumulate woe on woe.
rumour--of the advance of the foe, and of his cruelty ( Matthew 24:6 ).
seek a vision--to find some way of escape from their difficulties ( Isaiah 26:9 ). So Zedekiah consulted Jeremiah ( Jeremiah 37:17 , 38:14 ).
law shall perish--fulfilled ( Ezekiel 20:1 Ezekiel 20:3 , Psalms 74:9 , Lamentations 2:9 ; compare Amos 8:11 ); God will thus set aside the idle boast, "The law shall not perish from the priest" ( Jeremiah 18:18 ).
ancients--the ecclesiastical rulers of the people.

27. people of the land--the general multitude, as distinguished from the "king" and the "prince." The consternation shall pervade all ranks. The king, whose duty it was to animate others and find a remedy for existing evils, shall himself be in the utmost anxiety; a mark of the desperate state of affairs.
clothed with desolation--Clothing is designed to keep off shame; but in this case shame shall be the clothing.
after their way--because of their wicked ways.
deserts--literally, "judgments," that is, what just judgment awards to them; used to imply the exact correspondence of God's judgment with the judicial penalties they had incurred: they oppressed the poor and deprived them of liberty; therefore they shall be oppressed and lose their own liberty.