Yechezkel 20:4

4 Wilt thou judge them, ben adam, wilt thou judge them? Cause them to know the to’avot of their avot.

Yechezkel 20:4 Meaning and Commentary

Ezekiel 20:4

Wilt thou judge them, son of man?
&c.] Excuse them, patronise them, defend their cause, and plead for them? surely thou wilt not; or rather, wilt thou not reprove and correct them, judge and condemn them, for their sins and wickedness? this thou oughtest to do: wilt thou judge [them]?
this is repeated, to show the vehemency of the speaker, and the duty of the prophet: cause them to know the abominations of their fathers:
the sins they committed, which were abominable in themselves, and rendered them abominable unto God, and what came upon them for them; by which they would be led to see the abominable evils which they also had been guilty of, in which they had imitated their fathers, and what they had reason to expect in consequence of them.

Yechezkel 20:4 In-Context

2 Then came the Devar Hashem unto me, saying,

3 Ben adam, speak unto the zekenim of Yisroel, and say unto them, Thus saith Adonoi Hashem: Are ye come to inquire of Me? As I live, saith Adonoi Hashem, I will not be inquired of by you.

4 Wilt thou judge them, ben adam, wilt thou judge them? Cause them to know the to’avot of their avot.

5 And say unto them, Thus saith Adonoi Hashem: In the day when I chose Yisroel, and lifted up Mine yad [i.e., took a shevua] unto the zera Bais Ya’akov, and made Myself known unto them in Eretz Mitzrayim, when I lifted up Mine yad unto them, saying, I am Hashem Eloheichem;

6 In the day that I lifted up Mine yad unto them, to bring them forth from Eretz Mitzrayim into a land that I had searched out for them, zavat cholov udevash, which is the most beautiful of all lands;