Ezequiel 20:26

26 Y contaminélos en sus ofrendas cuando hacían pasar por el fuego todo primogénito, para que los desolase, á fin de que supiesen que yo soy Jehová.

Ezequiel 20:26 Meaning and Commentary

Ezekiel 20:26

And one polluted them in their own gifts
Suffered them to defile themselves; or declared them to be, and treated them as polluted persons, in the gifts and sacrifices which they offered to idols, particularly their firstborn: as the next clause explains it: in that they caused to pass though [the fire] all that openeth the
womb;
this very likely they did, when they sacrificed to Baalpeor, the same with Molech, ( Numbers 25:3 ) ; that I might make them desolate;
their families, by stripping them of their children, their firstborn, and strength: to the end that they might know that I [am] the Lord;
a righteous God, in punishing men for sin, in a way it deserves. Some interpret this, not of causing the firstborn to pass through fire to an idol; but of causing them to pass, or of setting them apart, to the Lord, according to the law in ( Exodus 13:12 ) ; where the same word is used as here; and the sense is that God declared them to be impure in or with all their gifts, by commanding them to cause their firstborn to pass to him, which they were obliged to redeem; which sense is approved of by Gussetius ^F12; and so Abendana, taking the words to refer to both, gives this sense of them,

``I pronounced them impure, and removed them far from me, instead of sanctifying them; because they caused everyone that opens the womb to pass from me, whom I commanded to give to me for holiness, but they have given them to idolatry;''

rather, according to Braunius ^F13, the words may be understood of God's rejecting and causing the firstborn to pass from him, and not suffering them to offer gifts and sacrifices unto him; which may be meant by pronouncing them impure, or polluting them in their gifts; this was after the worship of the golden calf; when he took Aaron and his sons in their room.

---

FOOTNOTES:

F12 Ebr. Comment. p. 576, 939.
F13 Selecta Sacra, l. 4. c. 11. p. 522.

Ezequiel 20:26 In-Context

24 Porque no pusieron por obra mis derechos, y desecharon mis ordenanzas, y profanaron mis sábados, y tras los ídolos de sus padres se les fueron sus ojos.

25 Por eso yo también les dí ordenanzas no buenas, y derechos por los cuales no viviesen;

26 Y contaminélos en sus ofrendas cuando hacían pasar por el fuego todo primogénito, para que los desolase, á fin de que supiesen que yo soy Jehová.

27 Por tanto, hijo del hombre, habla á la casa de Israel, y diles: Así ha dicho el Señor Jehová: Aun en esto me afrentaron vuestros padres cuando cometieron contra mí rebelión.

28 Porque yo los metí en la tierra sobre la cual había alzado mi mano que les había de dar, y miraron á todo collado alto, y á todo árbol espeso, y allí sacrificaron sus víctimas, y allí presentaron la irritación de sus ofrendas, allí pusieron también él olor de su suavidad, y allí derramaron sus libaciones.