Exposition of Ezekiel 30-48, Commentary on Ezechiel · Chapter 36 · Verse 31
Verſ. 31.
Then ſhall ye remember your own evill wayes, and your doings that were not good, and ſhall loath your ſelves in your own ſight, for your iniquities, and for your abominations.
THis Verſe is the laſt of the ſpeciall Promiſes made here unto this people, and it is a promiſe of repentance. Something like part of this verſ. we had Chap. 6.9. almoſt the ſame words we had Chap. 20.43.
Then ſhall ye remember.
When I have broken the Babyloniſh yoke off their necks, brought you into your own Land, and done great things for you, Then ye ſhall remember, that is, not ſimply to call to mind what ye have done, but to rowle up and down in your thoughts ſeriouſly, to muſe upon and ponder, for ſo much the word Zacar ſignifies, and ſo to ponder as to do ſomething thereupon.
Your own evill wayes, and your doings that were not good.
In Chap: 20.43. its your wayes, and all your doings wherein ye have been defiled; and here it is Your own evill wayes, and your doings that were not good. What their wayes and doings were, you may ſee Ezek: 22. throughout the whole Chapter, they did ſpeak and do evill as they could, Jer: 3.5. They were worſe than the Nations and Countreys round about them, Ezek: 5.6. than Sodom and Samaria, Ezek: 16.47.
And ſhall loath your ſelves in your own ſight.
Montanus renders the Hebrew thus, Reprobabitis vos in faciebus veſtris, Ye ſhall reprobate your ſelves in your own ſight, ye ſhall judg your ſelves worthy to be cut off, and to be made a curſe; ſo foreign ſignifies, ſaith Maldonate. The Vulgar, is your iniquities ſhall diſpleaſe you; there is more in the word than diſpleaſing; Faſtidio eritis vobis ipſis, Ye ſhall be for a diſdain, a loathing to your ſelves. Compungemini, ſaith Aecolampadius, Ye ſhall be pricked at the heart, ye ſhall ſee your ſelves ſo defiled, and deformed through ſin, that ye ſhall loath and abhor your ſelves.
For your iniquities and for your abominations.
Iniquities are perverſe, crooked, and unrighteous actions; abominations things diſaffecting and loathſome to the ſenſes.
Firſt, Obſerve;
Gods loving kindneſſes and mercies do work more with ſinners than his judgements do.
All the time they were in Babylon, their hearts were never ſo affected for their ſins, as after God brought them out, ſetled them in Canaan, and ſhewed much love unto them, Then they ſhould remember their evil wayes; before they minded them no…, then they ſhould loath themſelves. Mercies in Sion are more efficacious with ſinners than judgments in Babylon; Gods favour ſooner melts hard hearts than the fire of his indignation; his kindneſs is very penetrative, it gets into the hearts of ſinners ſooner than his threats and frowns; it is like a ſmall ſoaking rain which goes to the roots of things, when as a daſhing rain runs away, and does little good. It was Davids kindneſs brake the heart of Saul, 1 Sam. 24. And it is Gods kindneſſe which breaks the heart of ſinners. The Milk and Honey of the Goſpel affect the hearts of ſinners more than the Gall and Wormwood of the Law; Chriſt on Mount Sion brings more to repentance, than Moſes on Mount Sinai.
Secondly, Obſerve;
When God brings his People out of Babylon into Canaan, out of the world and Antichriſtian wayes, into neer relation to himſelf, and into Goſpel order, then he will frame their ſpirits ſo, that they ſhall review their former wayes, be aſhamed of, and loath themſelves for them.
Verſ. 28. Ye ſhall dwell in the Land that I gave to your fathers, and ye ſhall be my people, and I will be your God, and then ſhall ye remember your doings that were not good, and ſhall loath your ſelves in your own ſight for your iniquities and abominations. When people are delivered from the power of darkneſs, and tranſlated into the Kingdome of Chriſt, then they come to ſee what works of darkneſs they committed, and ſo to abhorre and loath themſelves for the ſame. When men come out of Popiſh darkneſs, or the profane courſes they have lived in, and are brought neer to God, how do they judge, condemn, and loath themſelves for the ſame! When Paul was tranſlated from his Phariſaiſme into Chriſts unity, then God moulded his ſpirit ſo, that he ſaw and confeſſed what a Blaſphemer, Perſecuter, and injurious perſon he had been, and loathed himſelf, ſaying, He was the chief of ſinners, 1 Tim. 1.15. And when the Jews ſhall be brought out of that Babyloniſh condition they now are in, and become a people neer to God, being in the Church of Chriſt, then they will remember their evill doings, their bitterneſs againſt Chriſtians, and bloudyneſſe againſt Chriſt, and loath themſelves for the ſame, Zech. 12.10. Rev. 1.7.
Thirdly, Obſerve;
Where repentance comes, it makes a change in mens judgments, affections, and lives.
They ſhould loath themſelves in their own ſight, for their iniquities, and for their abominations. What they approved of before, delighted in, and practiſed, that they ſhould look upon as abominable, loath, and turn from. Repentance begins in mens minds and judgements, altering them, and when they are altered, the affections and converſation will alter; when the Prodigall repented there was a change inward and outward.