But you, son of man, groan! Groan before their eyes with a broken heart and bitter grief. Sermons
I. THE CAUSE OF THE PROPHET'S SIGHING. 1. The trouble which was about to come upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem and of the whole land of Israel, in the invasion of the country, the siege of the metropolis, and the violent death of many of the inhabitants. 2. The sinful rebelliousness of the people, by which they were bringing upon themselves these calamities and disasters. 3. Ezekiel's deep and sincere sympathy with sufferers, and his sorrow for their evil ways, so that he felt for his fellow countrymen as he would have felt for himself. II. THE SEVERITY OF THE PROPHET'S SIGHING. It was "with bitterness," "with the breaking of the loins," i.e. sighing shaking the whole bodily frame, and evincing the pungent distress afflicting his spirit. III. THE SIGNIFICANCE OF THE PROPHET'S SIGHING. 1. It was an evidence of patriotism; for Ezekiel himself was far from the scene of approaching retribution, and it did not affect him personally, but through his patriotic identification of himself with all that concerned his people. 2. It was an evidence of his faith in Divine assurances. There is no reason to suppose that mere political foresight enabled the prophet to anticipate the coming, evil; yet he realized its certain approach with such intensity as to call forth the manifestation of feeling here described. 3. It was a warning to the careless and insensible. There were many for whom Ezekiel sighed who sighed not for themselves; yet theirs was the sin, and theirs the punishment now imminent. 4. It was a summons to repentance. If the prophet cried and sighed for the abominations wrought among the people, how much more did it become those who by their sins had provoked the anger of the righteous God to consider their ways, to weep because of their guilty ingratitude and persistent disobedience, and to flee from the wrath to come! how much more did it behove them to call upon the Lord that he might have mercy upon them, and upon their God who could abundantly pardon! - T.
Wherefore sighest thou?...For the tidings. "The tidings" were, in the first place, of dishonour done to God, and, in the second place, of ruin which the transgressors were bringing upon themselves; and we think to show you that the tidings were such as might well justify the prophet as he looked upon his nation in "sighing with bitterness before their eyes."1. If you know anything of the relationship subsisting between the Creator and the creature, you must know that we lie absolutely at the disposal of God, depending for every thing upon His bounty, and bound to live wholly to His glory. God's laws are binding without exception and without limitation; and if He only issue an announcement of His will, it should be received with the deepest reverence and obeyed with unhesitating compliance throughout every department of His unbounded empire. And if this obedience be withheld, who can fail to see that the very greatest insult is at once offered by the finite to the Infinite? Now, consider what effect this insult will have — or at least ought to have — upon a man who loves God, and whose prime effort it is to obey His every word. If a man of warm loyalty were living amongst traitors, it would wound him to the quick to hear the king whom he honoured continually reviled. If a man of warm friendship were with the enemies of his love, it would sorely grieve him to observe how his friend was hated and despised. And what are such feelings in comparison of those which should rise in the man of real piety, when he beholds on all sides dishonour done to his God? Oh! as such a man thinks on the unlimited right which God has to the services of His creatures, and yet more as he thinks how God draws those creatures to Himself by every motive of interest and attraction, supplying their wants, offering them happiness, bearing with their perverseness; and then, when there come to him tidings of the return which God receives — His authority defied, His promises despised, His threatenings laughed to scorn, so that it almost seems the universal object to expel Him from His own world, and set up some usurper in His stead — as the man, we say, of real piety observes all this, and meditates on all this, would there be any cause of wonder were he to exclaim, "For the tidings! for the tidings. when asked to explain a manifestation of grief which should be similar to that of the prophet — "Sigh, therefore, thou son of man, with the breaking of thy loins, and with bitterness sigh before their eyes"? 2. But let us go on to consider the ruin which transgressors are bringing on themselves; for here at least we shall find "tidings" which, in the judgment of you all, might vindicate Ezekiel's mighty manifestation of anguish. It is not the moment of absolute shipwreck; but "it cometh" — "it cometh." "The tidings" make him as certain of the shipwreck of thousands as though already were the sea strewed with the fragments of the stranded navy. It is with him no matter of conjecture or speculation whether a life of wickedness will terminate in an eternity of misery; he so surely anticipates the future that he is as though he beheld the casting of the wicked into a lake of fire, and could not be more assured of their terrible doom if the last day were come, and the dead were raised, and "the books were opened." And who are these victims of Divine justice? Are they not his fellow men — his brethren after the flesh — those for whom he would bitterly sorrow, if he knew them exposed to some temporal calamity? Shall he — can he — be unmoved by their everlasting wretchedness? (H. Melvill, B. D.) People Ammonites, EzekielPlaces Babylon, Jerusalem, Negeb, RabbahTopics Bent, Bitter, Bitterness, Body, Breaking, Broken, Grief, Groan, Heart, Loins, Sigh, Sight, Sounds, Thighs, YeaOutline 1. Ezekiel prophesies against Jerusalem with a sign of sighing8. The sharp and bright sword 18. against Jerusalem 25. against the kingdom 28. and against the Ammonites Dictionary of Bible Themes Ezekiel 21:6 5801 brokenness Library Scriptures Showing the Sin and Danger of Joining with Wicked and Ungodly Men. Scriptures Showing The Sin And Danger Of Joining With Wicked And Ungodly Men. When the Lord is punishing such a people against whom he hath a controversy, and a notable controversy, every one that is found shall be thrust through: and every one joined with them shall fall, Isa. xiii. 15. They partake in their judgment, not only because in a common calamity all shares, (as in Ezek. xxi. 3.) but chiefly because joined with and partakers with these whom God is pursuing; even as the strangers that join … Hugh Binning—The Works of the Rev. Hugh Binning Light for them that Sit in Darkness; Sundry Sharp Reproofs Saurin -- Paul Before Felix and Drusilla Ezekiel Links Ezekiel 21:6 NIVEzekiel 21:6 NLT Ezekiel 21:6 ESV Ezekiel 21:6 NASB Ezekiel 21:6 KJV Ezekiel 21:6 Bible Apps Ezekiel 21:6 Parallel Ezekiel 21:6 Biblia Paralela Ezekiel 21:6 Chinese Bible Ezekiel 21:6 French Bible Ezekiel 21:6 German Bible Ezekiel 21:6 Commentaries Bible Hub |