The Pulpit Commentary — Ezekiel — Volume 2 — Section 198

.acceptance; God requires of us that 'Ye be pure in heart, loyal in spirit, upright in word and deed, or he cannot grant us his benediction or admit us to his home. III. THE RIGHTEOUSNESS oF Gon IN BOTH RESPECTS. 1. God is righteous in for- giving the sinful man and restoring him to fulness of life. The Pharisaic view of this act is that it is unrighteous, inasmuch as a guilty soul is taken back to favour and raise_d up to life_ and joy. ~ut th~re are two things overlooked. (1) God is ever seeking the ~st m ~an ; he 1s working towards purity and goodness. How can this be pr?root.ed m the smful? In no way so well as by the extension of Divine mercy. Unrehe_ved penalty onlJ: crushes and _condemns to a hopeless continuance in sin; but mercy _1~plants ho~,-1t leads to pemtence_, and it ends in p~rity, in wisdom, in moral and spmtual well-being. (2) Though mercifully restored to hfe, the sinner does not fail to suffer ; some penalt:l'. for past tra~sgressio~ he roust pay. In the _nature o~ things, or rather under the workmg of the wise and righteous laws of God, sm works immediate mischief in the soul, and it importantly affects the life; so that not even the abounding mercy of God makes it the same thing to a man whether he spends his earlier years in wisdom or in folly. 2. God is merciful even in condemning the backslider. For if he were to act otherwise, if he were to allow a man, because he had once been righteous, to fall into any sinfulness without condemning and punishing him, what licence he would be giving to iniquity, and how would he be multiplying transgression on every hand! It is in the true and lasting interest of our race, and of all his intelligent crea- tion, that God affixes his rebuke and some appropriate penalty to all wrong-doing or wrong-being, in whomsoever it may be found. Thus the Divine Ruler and Father of men is righteous when he forgives, and is merciful when he condemns. His ways are equal, and if we fail to see it it is because we fail to recognize the profound righteous- ness of mercy, and the equally profound mercy of righteousness.-C. Vers. 23--25.-Ill-grounded lwpe. The address of the prophet is delivered to that "miserable fraction in Judrea who dwelt among its desolations, and who, notwith- st.anding all they had seen and suffered of the righteous judgments of God, were still wedded to their sinful ways, and cherishing the most groundless hopes. . . . They were appealing in the most confident manner to their connection with Abraham, and on that ground assuring themselves of their right to possess the land of Canaan. 'He, though but one, got the land for an inheritance, and we, his descendants, who are a greatly larger company than he could boast of, may we not justly expect to be kept in posses- sion of it?'" (Fairbairn). The prophet dismisses this claim in the language of decisive disa.llowal and of strong rebuke. He tells them that, so far from God raising their position and making them possessors and rulers in the land, they may look for more jud,,,oments from his hand, for their iniquities were loudly demanding them. Here were- I. MEN MIBTA.KING THEIR SPIRITUAL POSITION. It was much, in their mind, that they " had Abraham to their father." How little that mere genealogical fact weighed in the estimate of God we know from the language of the great prophet John, and of that One who was so much greater than he (Matt. iii. 9; John viii. 33-39). While boasting of their descent from Abraham, they were, in character and conduct, every- thing that Abraham was not-everything from which that "friend of God" would .have turned away with holy indignation (see vers. 25, 26). Consequently, they were numbered amongst the most disloyal subjects of Jehovah, and were the objects of hie most severe displeasure. Their confidence in themselves was utterly misplaced. They may be said to be the spiritual ancestors of a very numerous seed. How many are they IVho because (1) they have been born and brought up in the midst of some Christian community, or becaw,e (2) they have gone through the formal rites of some Christian Church, imagine themselves to be the sons of God, enjoying his Divine favour and subjects of his spiritual kingdom! Yet the state of their heart, and (it may be) even the tenor of their life, effectually disprove it. Their hearts are far from God, and their deeds from uprightness and Christian worth. II. MEN DELUDING THElllBELVES WITH A FALSE HOPE. 'l'his, of course, follows from the other. The remnant of the Jews were hoping to become the possessors of the land, and to rise to the position from which their countrymen had fallen. But their hopes ~·ere vain, for they were built upon mistake and error. We may be looking forward to oJI. ::u:xm. 1-33.] 'l:HE BOOK OF THE PROPHET EZEKIEL. 205