Ezekiel 14:8

8 I will oppose you. I will make an example of you. I will remove you from the community of my people, so that all of you will know that I am the Lord.

Ezekiel 14:8 Meaning and Commentary

Ezekiel 14:8

And I will set my face against that man
And look him out of countenance, notwithstanding all his daring impudence and presumption in coming to a prophet of the Lord, and inquiring of him by him, when guilty of gross idolatry; which mast needs be the case, when the face of God is set against a man. The Targum renders it, "my fury", or "wrath"; and indeed that is what is meant; when God sets his face against a man, he pours out his wrath, or inflicts punishment on him; see ( Psalms 34:16 ) . Jarchi's note is,

``as a man that says I am at leisure from all business, and I will attend to this;''

laying aside all other business, wholly giving himself up to one thing, on which he is set. Dreadful is a man's case, when the Lord thus sets himself against him! and will make him a sign and a proverb;
a spectacle of horror to look at, because of his misery; and a proverb, to be took up, and spoke of, as Zedekiah and Ahab were, ( Jeremiah 29:22 ) ; and I will cut him off from the midst of my people;
by a sudden death, which the Jews call death from heaven, or by the immediate hand of God; and which is answering by himself, as in ( Ezekiel 14:7 ) ; and ye shall know that I [am] the Lord;
that is, those that remain, are not cut off, but are reclaimed by these examples from idolatry, and are brought to repentance, the remnant among them that should be saved; these should know and acknowledge the Lord was omniscient, and knew the hypocrisy of those men above described; and was omnipotent, and could make good his threatenings, and inflict deserved punishment; and that he was holy, just, and true, in all his ways.

Ezekiel 14:8 In-Context

6 "Now then, tell the Israelites what I, the Sovereign Lord, am saying: Turn back and leave your disgusting idols.

7 "Whenever one of you Israelites or one of you foreigners who live in the Israelite community turn away from me and worship idols, and then go to consult a prophet, I, the Lord, will give you your answer!

8 I will oppose you. I will make an example of you. I will remove you from the community of my people, so that all of you will know that I am the Lord.

9 "If any prophets are deceived into giving a false answer, it is because I, the Lord, have deceived them. I will remove them from the people of Israel.

10 Both prophets and anyone who consults them will get the same punishment.