Ezekiel 5:13

Thus shall mine anger be accomplished, and I will cause my fury to rest upon them, and I will be comforted: and they shall know that I the LORD have spoken it in my zeal, when I have accomplished my fury in them.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(13) I will be comforted.—The word employed here is used in two different senses: either that of feeling compassion, and so of repenting of one’s anger, as in Isaiah 12:1; Isaiah 49:13; Isaiah 51:3; Isaiah 51:12; Isaiah 52:9, &c.; or of consoling oneself by taking vengeance, as in Genesis 27:42, Isaiah 1:24 (Authorised Version, ease myself). (Comp. also Ezekiel 31:16; Ezekiel 32:31.) The latter is evidently the meaning here; the Divine honour, wounded by the sins of the chosen people and dishonoured before the heathen, should be vindicated by their punishment in the sight of all the world.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

5:5-17 The sentence passed upon Jerusalem is very dreadful, the manner of expression makes it still more so. Who is able to stand in God's sight when he is angry? Those who live and die impenitent, will perish for ever unpitied; there is a day coming when the Lord will not spare. Let not persons or churches, who change the Lord's statutes, expect to escape the doom of Jerusalem. Let us endeavour to adorn the doctrine of God our Saviour in all things. Sooner or later God's word will prove itself true.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Comforted - In the sense of "consoling oneself" and "feeling satisfaction in punishing;" hence, to "avenge oneself."

The fury is to "rest" upon them, abide, so as not to pass away. The "accomplishment" of the divine anger is not the "completion" in the sense of bringing it to a close, but in the sense of carrying it out to the full.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

13. cause my fury to rest upon them—as on its proper and permanent resting-place (Isa 30:32, Margin).

I will be comforted—expressed in condescension to man's conceptions; signifying His satisfaction in the vindication of His justice by His righteous judgments (De 28:63; Pr 1:26; Isa 1:24).

they shall how—by bitter experience.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

Thus; in this terrible and relentless manner already declared.

Mine anger; my provoked justice, not passion, shall be executed to the full of that I intend and have spoken.

My fury: after the manner of man is this spoken, and implies the great and hot displeasure of the Lord.

To rest; my bowels were troubled how to spare, and yet to punish, but now I will rest from such strugglings between my mercy and my justice; this shall be glorified, and I will be at ease.

I will be comforted; I did what in reason they could expect, and more than I was bound to, for their preservation; but nothing would prevail. O Israel, thou art destroyed, but it is my satisfaction thou hast destroyed thyself, and canst not charge it on me.

They shall know; these ruined ones by sad experience shall know.

In my zeal; in that indignation against your sins which the love of my own glory stirred up within me. In my provoked jealousy I spake, and will act against a persisting, perfidious, and adulterous wife, and it shall be known when I have finished my work.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

Thus shall mine anger be accomplished,.... Finished, perfected, consummated, by bringing the above judgments upon them, pestilence, famine, and sword, and by scattering them to every wind: what had been threatened long, and only some drops of it were let fall in times past, now was poured forth to the uttermost:

and I will cause my fury to rest upon them; to continue and abide upon them, and not move, at least for the space of threescore and ten years; see Zechariah 1:12;

and I will be comforted; by taking vengeance on them; so satisfying his justice, and easing him of his enemies; see Isaiah 1:24; a speech after the manner of men; who, when they have been affronted, and have avenged themselves, are easy in their minds, and satisfied:

and they shall know that I the Lord have spoken it in my zeal; that is, they shall find by experience that what the Lord had spoken by his prophets, and had threatened to bring upon them, was said in earnest, and arose from a jealousy for his own glory; this will be a clear case, and out of question:

when I have accomplished my fury in them; by the utter destruction of them; as follows:

Geneva Study Bible

Thus shall my anger be accomplished, and I will cause my fury to rest upon them, and I will be {g} comforted: and they shall know that I the LORD have spoken it in my zeal, when I have accomplished my fury in them.

(g) That is, I will not be pacified till I am avenged, Isa 1:24.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

13. my fury to rest upon them] Rather: will quiet (assuage, or, appease) my fury. Zechariah 7:8, “have quieted my spirit in the North country.” The phrase again, ch. Ezekiel 16:42, Ezekiel 21:17, Ezekiel 24:13.

I will be comforted] i.e. appeased by the vengeance taken on the people’s sins, cf. Isaiah 1:24 (the word is for hithneḥamti).

in my zeal] The word, usually rendered “jealousy,” expresses the heat of any passion, here resentment, ch. Ezekiel 16:38; Ezekiel 16:42, Ezekiel 23:25, Ezekiel 36:5-6, Ezekiel 38:19. Cf. ch. Ezekiel 2:5, Ezekiel 6:10, Ezekiel 24:22.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 13. - I will cause my fury to rest upon them, etc.; Revised Version, I will satisfy, etc. The phrase meets us again in Ezekiel 16:42; Ezekiel 21:17; Ezekiel 24:13. To "rest" here is to "repose" rather than to "abide." The thought is that a righteous anger, like that of Jehovah, rests (i.e. is quieted) when it has done its work, and that in this sense God is "comforted," either as rejoicing in the punishment of evil for its own sake (as in Deuteronomy 28:63; Isaiah 1:24), or because the punishment does its work in leading men to repentance. Israel may be comforted, because God is comforted as he sees that his judgments have done their work, and that his wrath can find repose. Have spoken in my zeal. The thought implied is that what is spoken in the earnest purpose of "zeal" will assuredly be carried into execution (comp. Isaiah 9:7; Isaiah 37:32). Men might deride the prophet's warning as an idle threat. It would prove itself to have come from God. Ezekiel 5:13

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

Further Execution of this Threat

Ezekiel 5:10. Therefore shall fathers devour their children in thy midst, and children shall devour their fathers: and I will exercise judgments upon thee, and disperse all thy remnant to the winds. Ezekiel 5:11. Therefore, as I live, is the declaration of the Lord Jehovah, Verily, because thou hast polluted my sanctuary with all thine abominations and all thy crimes, so shall I take away mine eye without mercy, and will not spare. Ezekiel 5:12. A third of thee shall die by the pestilence, and perish by hunger in thy midst; and the third part shall fall by the sword about thee; and the third part will I scatter to all the winds; and will draw out the sword after them. Ezekiel 5:13. And my anger shall be fulfilled, and I will cool my wrath against them, and will take vengeance. And they shall experience that I, Jehovah, have spoken in my zeal, when I accomplish my wrath upon them. Ezekiel 5:14. And I will make thee a desolation and a mockery among the nations which are round about thee, before the eyes of every passer-by. Ezekiel 5:15. And it shall be a mockery and a scorn, a warning and a terror for the nations round about thee, when I exercise my judgments upon thee in anger and wrath and in grievous visitations. I, Jehovah, have said it. Ezekiel 5:16. When I send against thee the evil arrows of hunger, which minister to destruction, which I shall send to destroy you; for hunger shall I heap upon you, and shall break to you the staff of bread. Ezekiel 5:17. And I shall send hunger upon you, and evil beasts, which shall make thee childless; and pestilence and blood shall pass over thee; and the sword will I bring upon thee. I, Jehovah, have spoken it. - As a proof of the unheard-of severity of the judgment, there is immediately mentioned in Ezekiel 5:10 a most horrible circumstance, which had been already predicted by Moses (Leviticus 26:29; Deuteronomy 28:53) as that which should happen to the people when hard pressed by the enemy, viz., a famine so dreadful, during the siege of Jerusalem, that parents would eat their children, and children their parents; and after the capture of the city, the dispersion of those who remained "to all the winds, i.e., to all quarters of the world." This is described more minutely, as an appendix to the symbolical act in Ezekiel 5:1 and Ezekiel 5:2, in Ezekiel 5:11 and Ezekiel 5:12, with a solemn oath, and with repeated and prominent mention of the sins which have drawn down such chastisements. As sin, is mentioned the pollution of the temple by idolatrous abominations, which are described in detail in Ezekiel 8. The אגרע, which is variously understood by the old translators (for which some Codices offer the explanatory correction אגדע), is to be explained, after Job 36:7, of the "turning away of the eye," and the עיני following as the object; while ולא־תחוס, "that it feel no compassion," is interjected between the verb and its object with the adverbial signification of "mercilessly." For that the words ולא תחוס are adverbially subordinate to אגרע, distinctly appears from the correspondence - indicated by וגם אני - between אגרע and לא . Moreover, the thought, "Jehovah will mercilessly withdraw His care for the people," is not to be termed "feeble" in connection with what follows; nor is the contrast, which is indicated in the clause וגם־אני, lost, as Hvernick supposes. וגם־אני does not require גּרע to be understood of a positive act, which would correspond to the desecration of the sanctuary. This is shown by the last clause of the verse. The withdrawal without mercy of the divine providence is, besides, in reality, equivalent to complete devotion to destruction, as it is particularized in Ezekiel 5:12. For Ezekiel 5:12 see on Ezekiel 5:1 and Ezekiel 5:2. By carrying out the threatened division of the people into three parts, the wrath of God is to be fulfilled, i.e., the full measure of the divine wrath upon the people is to be exhausted (cf. 7, 8), and God is to appear and "cool" His anger. הניח חמה, "sedavit iram," occurs again in Ezekiel 16:42; Ezekiel 21:22; Ezekiel 24:13. הנּחמתּי, Hithpael, pausal form for הנּחמתּי, "se consolari," "to procure satisfaction by revenge;" cf. Isaiah 1:24, and for the thing, Deuteronomy 28:63. In Ezekiel 5:14. the discourse turns again from the people to the city of Jerusalem. It is to become a wilderness, as was already threatened in Leviticus 26:31 and Leviticus 26:33 to the cities of Israel, and thereby a "mockery" to all nations, in the manner described in Deuteronomy 29:23. והיתה, in Ezekiel 5:15, is not to be changed, after the lxx, Vulgate, and some MSS, into the second person; but Jerusalem is to be regarded as the subject which is to become the object of scorn and hatred, etc., when God accomplishes His judgments. מוּסר is a warning-example. Among the judgments which are to overtake it, in Ezekiel 5:16, hunger is again made specially prominent (cf. Ezekiel 4:16) and first in Ezekiel 5:17 are wild beasts, pestilence, blood, and sword added, and a quartette of judgments announced as in Ezekiel 14:21. For pestilence and blood are comprehended together as a unity by means of the predicate. Their connection is to be understood according to Ezekiel 14:19, and the number four is significant, as in Ezekiel 14:21; Jeremiah 15:3. For more minute details as to the meaning, see on Ezekiel 14:21. The evil arrows point back to Deuteronomy 32:23; the evil beasts, to Leviticus 24:22 and Deuteronomy 32:24. To produce an impression, the prophet heaps his words together. Unum ejus consilium fuit penetrare in animos populi quasi lapideos et ferreos. Haec igitur est ratio, cur hic tanta varietate utatur et exornet suam doctrnam variis figuris (Calvin).