Ezekiel 20:1
And it came to pass in the seventh year, in the fifth month, the tenth day of the month, that certain of the elders of Israel came to enquire of the LORD, and sat before me. And it came to pass in the seventh year, in the fifth month, the tenth day of the month, that certain of the elders of Israel came to enquire of the LORD, and sat before me.
In the seventh year of exile certain elders of Israel came to inquire of the Lord and sat before the prophet while he was among the captives in Babylonia at the time Jeremiah was prophesying in Jerusalem. It stands among the warnings given before the destruction of Jerusalem, opening the message that sin must be forgiven or it will be consumed. It opens a chapter that reveals the importance of the Sabbath and shows God as Sanctifier and Redeemer, who made the Sabbath a sign that Israel might know Him as Creator who sanctifies them. The chapter proves the Sabbath originated at creation as a memorial of creation, not after the flight from Egypt, and holds it firm across the old dispensation as God's institution made for man. Obedience to God's commandments is the way of life and disobedience brings death, for Israel polluted the Sabbath through the wilderness and by Sabbath-breaking and idolatry was shut out of the promised land and at last dispersed under dreadful curses.
Historical Setting and Context
The date marks a visit by certain elders of Israel who came to inquire of the Lord and sat before the prophet while he was among the captives in exile in Babylonia. At that same time Jeremiah was prophesying in Jerusalem, while Ezekiel served as God's mouthpiece among the captives in Babylonia. The inquiry opens a chapter recounting how Israel's idolatry and Sabbath desecration led to its dispersion. The verse stands within chapters 1 to 24, which are prophetic warnings uttered before the destruction of Jerusalem and are occupied with correction, denunciation, and reproof. It begins the group formed by Ezekiel 20 to 22, whose lesson is that sin must be forgiven, or it will be consumed.
The chapter that follows records the Dark Ages of the Jewish church, a time of apostasy in idolatry when the faithful were persecuted, followed by the captivity of the Jews. That history parallels the Dark Ages of the Christian era, when the apostate church persecuted and slew the conscientious. As the account of God's dealings with Israel, reading it establishes faith in the truth and strengthens those who study the Bible from Genesis to Ezekiel.
Sabbath, Obedience, and God
Ezekiel 20:1 opens a chapter that shows the importance of the Sabbath and reveals God as Sanctifier and Redeemer. The chapter shows that God made the Sabbath a sign for Israel so that they might know Him as the One who sanctifies them, that is, that they might know their God as the Creator, not as a precept imposed as a sign on account of their unrighteousness and that of their fathers. Israel was the only people on earth that acknowledged the God who made heaven and earth while the nations around them worshiped false gods, so God fittingly designated His Sabbath as a sign between Himself and them expressing faith in the Creator who made heaven and earth in six days and rested on the seventh day.
The chapter is cited to prove the Sabbath originated at creation as a memorial of creation, not after the flight from Egypt as a memorial of that flight, holding the Sabbath firm from creation across the old dispensation as God's institution made for man. It reveals the importance of the Sabbath by connecting dreadful curses with disobedience to it, answering the large promises connected with obedience. The passage in Ezekiel 20:1-44, especially verses 11, 13, and 21, shows that obedience to God's commandments is the way of life, while disobedience brings death as its inevitable consequence.
The chapter shows the Father most solemnly enjoined observance of the Sabbath in the prophets, proving He never lightly esteemed the Sabbath from its sanctification in Paradise onward, so Jesus in healing on the Sabbath was only following the Father's perfect example from the beginning and not overthrowing the Sabbath. It records that Israel polluted and continued to violate the Sabbath throughout the forty years in the wilderness, despite the Sabbath commandment. Their Sabbath-breaking and idolatry were among the reasons the generation that came out of Egypt was excluded from the promised land, and the chapter recounts how Israel turned from God, forgot His Sabbath, and fell into idolatry, and how that idolatry and Sabbath desecration led to its dispersion.