(25) Statutes that were not good.--In this verse the general statement is made of which a particular instance is given in the next. The "statutes that were not good, and judgments whereby they should not live," cannot be the same with those described in Ezekiel 20:11 as "judgments which, if a man do, he shall even live in them." They are not, therefore, to be understood (as many of the fathers took them) of any part of the Mosaic law. Neither is it a sufficient explanation to say that God gave them what was intrinsically good, but it became evil to them through their sins; such a view of the law is emphatically discarded in Romans 7:13. The statutes of the Mosaic law are not intended here at all, as is plain from the particular instance of the consecration of children to Moloch in the next verse. These evil statutes and judgments were those adopted from the heathen whom they had suffered to dwell among them, and from the surrounding nations. But how can the Lord say that He gave these to them? In the same way that it is said in Isaiah 63:17, "O Lord, why hast thou made us to err from Thy ways, and hardened our heart from Thy fear?" So also St. Paul says of the heathen (Romans 1:21-28) that God "gave them up to uncleanness," "unto vile affections," "to a reprobate mind;" and of certain wicked persons (2Thessalonians 2:11-12) "God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie: that they all might be damned who believe not the truth." And St. Stephen says of these very Israelites at this very time, "God gave them up to worship the host of heaven" (Acts 7:42). It is part of that universal moral government of the world, to which Ezekiel so frequently refers, that the effect of disobedience and neglect of grace is to lead the sinner on to greater sin. The Israelites rebelled against the Divine government, and neglected the grace given them; the natural consequence was that they fell under the influence of the heathen. Comp. Note on Ezekiel 14:9. . . . Verse 25. - I gave them also statutes that were not good, etc. The words have sometimes been understood as though Ezekiel applied these terms to the Law itself, either as speaking of what St. Paul calls its "weak and beggarly elements" (Galatians 4:9), or as unable to work out the righteousness which it commanded (Romans 3:20), and the language of Hebrews 7:19 and Hebrews 10:1 has been urged in support of this view. One who has studied Ezekiel with any care will not need many words to show that such a conclusion was not in his thoughts at all. For him the Law was "holy and just and good," and its statutes such that a man who should keep them should even live in them (vers. 13, 21). He is speaking of the time that followed on the second publication of that Law, and what he Says is that the people who rebelled against it were left, as it were, to a law of another kind. The baser, darker forms of idolatry are described by him, with a grave irony, as statutes and judgments of another kind, working, not life, but death. Sin became, by God's appointment, the punishment of sin, that it might be manifest as exceeding sinful. So Stephen says of Israel that "God turned, and gave them up to worship the host of heaven" (Acts 7:42). So St. Paul paints the corruptions of the heathen world as the result of God's giving them up to "vile affections" (Romans 1:24, 25). So in God's future dealings with an apostate form of Christianity, the same apostle declares that "God shall send them strong delusions that they should believe a lie" (2 Thessalonians 2:11). Psalm 81:12 may have been in Ezekiel's thoughts as asserting the same general law.

Parallel Commentaries ...


I
אֲנִי֙ (’ă·nî)
Pronoun - first person common singular
Strong's 589: I

also
וְגַם־ (wə·ḡam-)
Conjunctive waw | Conjunction
Strong's 1571: Assemblage, also, even, yea, though, both, and

gave
נָתַ֣תִּי (nā·ṯat·tî)
Verb - Qal - Perfect - first person common singular
Strong's 5414: To give, put, set

them over
לָהֶ֔ם (lā·hem)
Preposition | third person masculine plural
Strong's Hebrew

to statutes
חֻקִּ֖ים (ḥuq·qîm)
Noun - masculine plural
Strong's 2706: Something prescribed or owed, a statute

that were not
לֹ֣א (lō)
Adverb - Negative particle
Strong's 3808: Not, no

good
טוֹבִ֑ים (ṭō·w·ḇîm)
Adjective - masculine plural
Strong's 2896: Pleasant, agreeable, good

and ordinances
וּמִ֨שְׁפָּטִ֔ים (ū·miš·pā·ṭîm)
Conjunctive waw | Noun - masculine plural
Strong's 4941: A verdict, a sentence, formal decree, divine law, penalty, justice, privilege, style

by which
בָּהֶֽם׃ (bā·hem)
Preposition | third person masculine plural
Strong's Hebrew

they could not
לֹ֥א (lō)
Adverb - Negative particle
Strong's 3808: Not, no

live.
יִֽחְי֖וּ (yiḥ·yū)
Verb - Qal - Imperfect - third person masculine plural
Strong's 2421: To live, to revive


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OT Prophets: Ezekiel 20:25 Moreover also I gave them statutes that (Ezek. Eze Ezk)