Page 27 - NOTES ON EZEKIEL

CHAPTER IV. 21

god of the children of Ammon; and have not walked
in my ways to do that which is right in mine eyes, and
to keep my statutes and my judgments, as did David
his father.” Thus the seed of David were to be for
this afflicted, as they have been, but not for ever. But
if a brighter day awaits them, a long night of darkness
first, and the coldest hour before the dawn; for they
have added to their idolatry the still graver wicked­
ness of dejecting their Messiah and of opposing the
gospel that goes out to the Gentiles, so that wrath is
come upon them to the uttermost. It seems no real
obstacle to this that the house of Israel as a dis­
tinctive title of the ten tribes were carried off
long before the termination of the period; because it
is after the habitual manner of Ezekiel, however
he may distinguish here as elsewhere, to embrace the
whole nation under that name. Judah did not use for
God’s glory the long and peaceful and prosperous
reign of him who in the midst of unexampled benefits
turned away his heart after other gods; and the sen­
tence of Lo-ammi was only executed when that portion
of the elect nation which clave to the house of David,
and even the last king who reigned of that house, by
their treachery to Jehovah justified the backsliding
tribes who had long before been swept away from
the land.
How solemn is the testimony God renders to man
viewed in his responsibility to walk according to the
light given! It is not only that he departs farther
and farther from God, but that he breaks down from
the first; while every fresh means of recall but serves
to prove his thorough alienation in heart and will.