Ezekiel 6:8

Yet will I leave a remnant, that ye may have some that shall escape the sword among the nations, when ye shall be scattered through the countries.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(8) Yet will I leave a remnant.—In Ezekiel 6:8-10 the general gloom of this prophecy of judgment is lightened for a moment by the mention of the remnant who shall be brought by their afflictions “to know that I am the Lord” in a far higher and better sense than those mentioned in Ezekiel 6:7. This Divine plan pursued from the beginning, as is shown by St. Paul in Romans 9:6-13, of purifying the people by setting aside the mass, and showing mercy to a remnant, looks far beyond the Babylonish captivity, as is shown by the parallel prophecy of Zechariah, uttered after the return from that captivity, “They shall remember me in far countries; and they shall live with their children, and turn again” (Zechariah 10:9). Beyond this brief glimpse at the remnant, however, the cloud settles down again upon the prophecy; for the period until the destruction of Jerusalem, now but a few years off, must be almost exclusively a period of the denunciation of judgment.

Benson Commentary

Ezekiel 6:8-10. Yet will I leave a remnant — “A gracious exception that often occurs in the prophets when they denounce general judgments against the Jews; implying that God will still preserve a remnant of that people; to whom he will fulfil the promises made to their fathers.” And they that escape of you shall remember me, &c. — Your afflictions shall bring you to the knowledge of yourselves, and a sense of your duty to me. Because I am broken with their whorish hearts — I am much grieved, and my patience is tired out with this people’s idolatries, called in Scripture spiritual whoredom. God is here introduced as speaking after the manner of men, whose patience is tired out by the repeated provocations of others, especially when they see no hopes of amendment. And with their eyes go a whoring after their idols — The eyes are the seat of lascivious inclinations: see 2 Peter 2:14. So, in pursuit of the same metaphor, the eyes are said to go a whoring after idols, the people being often tempted to idolatrous worship by the costliness of the images, and the fine show they made. And they shall loathe themselves, &c. — With a mixture of grief toward God, of indignation against themselves, and abhorrence of the offence. And they shall know I have not said in vain, &c. — Without cause, as the word חנם is more significantly translated Ezekiel 14:22; the sufferers had given him just cause to pronounce that evil. Or, without effect: their sins were the cause, and their destruction is the effect of their sufferings.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

6:8-10 A remnant of Israel should be left; at length they should remember the Lord, their obligations to him, and rebellion against him. True penitents see sin to be that abominable thing which the Lord hates. Those who truly loathe sin, loathe themselves because of sin. They give glory to God by their repentance. Whatever brings men to remember Him, and their sins against him, should be regarded as a blessing.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

The force of the words is, "When the slain shall fall in the midst of you, then at last ye shall know that I am the Lord." So in Ezekiel 6:10 where the knowledge implies a recognition of the merciful intent of Yahweh's dispensations, and therefore, a hope of restoration.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

8. Mitigation of the extreme severity of their punishment; still their life shall be a wretched one, and linked with exile (Eze 5:2, 12; 12:16; 14:22; Jer 44:28).

Matthew Poole's Commentary

It is the Lord that preserves a remnant, the enemies’ rage would destroy all; and it is an act of deliberate and voluntary resolution, not by chance, but by choice.

A remnant; some few in comparison with the great multitudes that are cut off. Though he promiseth a handful shall remain, yet it shall be in that condition that they are little more than escaped, a poor and small remnant left, as Zephaniah 3:12.

Ye shall be scattered; either by your own choice, shifting from country to country; or else, dissipated by the order of the proud oppressing conqueror, who will scatter families, lest they should be a little comfort to one another, and great jealousy to him; he will scatter to prevent conspiracies.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

Yet will I leave a remnant,.... Not in Judea, but in Babylon, and in the countries where they should be dispersed, as follows:

that ye may have some that shall escape the sword among the nations; which was threatened to be drawn, and sent after them, Ezekiel 5:2; but all should not perish by if; some should escape; for this was not the time to make a full end of them:

when ye shall be scattered through the countries; that is, of Egypt, Ammon, Moab, and Assyria; for this respects their dispersion at the time of the Babylonish captivity, and not their present dispersion.

Geneva Study Bible

Yet will I leave a remnant, {d} that ye may have some that shall escape the sword among the nations, when ye shall be scattered through the countries.

(d) He shows that in all dangers God will preserve a few, which will be as the seed of his Church and call on his Name.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

8. that ye may have] R.V. in that ye shall have some is better. The original reads very awkwardly, and in LXX. the words: “yet will I leave a remnant” are wanting. Ezekiel 6:9 seems the apodosis of Ezekiel 6:8, and when ye shall have them that escape the sword … 9 then shall they that escape of you remember.

8–10. A remnant shall be preserved, and shall remember the Lord among the nations whither they are scattered

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 8. - Yet will I leave a remnant, ere. The thought, though not the word, is that of Isaiah 1:9; Isaiah 10:20; Zephaniah 2:7; Zephaniah 3:13; Jeremiah 43:5. For these, at least, the punishment would, in greater or less measure, do its work; and, in remembering Jehovah, they would find the beginning of conversion. Ezekiel 6:8

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

The survivors shall go away into banishment amongst the heathen, and shall remember the word of the Lord that will have been fulfilled. - Ezekiel 6:8. But I shall preserve a remnant, in that there shall be to you some who have escaped the sword among the nations, when he shall be dispersed among the lands. Ezekiel 6:9. And those of you who have escaped, will make mention of me among the nations whither they are led captive, when I have broken to me their whorish heart, which had departed from me, and their eyes, which went a whoring after their idols: and they shall loathe themselves because of the evil which they have done in reference to all their abominations. Ezekiel 6:10. And ye shall know that I am Jehovah. Not in vain have I spoken this evil to you. - הותיר, superstites facere, "to make or preserve survivors." The connection with 'בּהיות וגו is analogous to the construction of הותיר, in the sense of "giving a superabundance," with בּ rei, Deuteronomy 28:11 and Deuteronomy 30:9, and is not to be rejected, with Ewald and Hitzig, as inadmissible. For בּהיות is supported by the old versions, and the change of והותרתּי into ודבּרתּי, which would have to be referred to Ezekiel 6:7, is in opposition to the twofold repetition of the וידאתּם כּי אן (וידעוּ), Ezekiel 6:10 and Ezekiel 6:14, as this repetition shows that the thought in Ezekiel 6:7 is different from that in 17, 21, not "they shall know that Jehovah has spoken," but "they shall know that He who has done this is Jehovah, the God of Israel." The preservation of a remnant will be shown in this, that they shall have some who have escaped the sword. הזּרותיכם is infin. Niph. with a plural form of the suffix, as occurs elsewhere only with the plural ending ות of nouns, while Ezekiel has extended it to the ות of the infinitive of ה''ל verbs; cf. Ezekiel 16:31, and Ewald, 259b. The remembrance of Jehovah (Ezekiel 6:9) is the commencement of conversion to Him. אשׁר before נשׁבּרתּי is not to be connected as relative pronoun with לבּם, but is a conjunction, though not used conditionally, "if," as in Leviticus 4:22; Deuteronomy 11:27, and elsewhere, but of time, ὅτε, "when," as Deuteronomy 11:6 and 2 Chronicles 35:20, and נשׁבּרתּי in the signification of the futur. exact. The Niphal נשׁבּר here is not to be taken as passive, but middle, sibi frangere, i.e., לבּם, poenitenti conterere animum eorum ut ad ipsum (Deum) redeant (Maurer, Hvernick). Besides the heart, the eyes also are mentioned, which God is to smite, as the external senses which allure the heart to whoredom. ונקטוּ corresponds to וזכרוּ at the beginning of the verse. קוּט, "the later form for קוּץ, "to feel a loathing," Hiphil, "to be filled with loathing;" cf. Job 10:1 with ב object., "in (on) their פנים, faces," i.e., their persons or themselves: so also in Ezekiel 20:43; Ezekiel 36:31. אל הרעות, in allusion to the evil things; 'לכל־תועב, in reference to all their abominations. This fruit, which is produced by chastisement, namely, that he idolaters are inspired with loathing for themselves, and led to the knowledge of Jehovah, will furnish the proof that God has not spoken in vain.