Ezekiel 20:6

To bring them forth of the land of Egypt - When they had been long in a very disgraceful and oppressive bondage. A land that I had espied for them - God represents himself as having gone over different countries in order to find a comfortable residence for these people, whom he considered as his children. Flowing with milk and honey - These were the characteristics of a happy and fruitful country, producing without intense labor all the necessaries and comforts of life. Of the happiest state and happiest place, a fine poet gives the following description: - Ver erat aeternum, placidique tepentibus auris Mulcebant Zephyri natos sine semine flores. Mox etiam fruges tellus inarata ferebat: Nec renovatus ager gravidis canebat aristis. Flumina jam lactis, jam flumina nectaris ibant: Flavaque de viridi stillabant ilice mella. Ovid's Metam. lib. i., 107. On flowers unsown soft Zephyr spreads his wing, And time itself was one eternal spring; Ensuing years the yellow harvest crowned, The bearded blade sprang from the untilled ground, And laden unrenewed the fields were found. Floods were with milk, and floods with nectar filled, And honey from the sweating oaks distilled. In the flourishing state of Judea every mountain was cultivated as well as the valleys. Among the very rocks the vines grew luxuriantly.

espied for them--as though God had spied out all other lands, and chose Canaan as the best of all lands (Deu 8:7-8). See Dan 8:9; Dan 11:16, Dan 11:41, "the glorious land"; see Margin, "land of delight," or, ornament"; "the pleasant land," or "land of desire," Zac 7:14, Margin. glory of all lands--that is, Canaan was "the beauty of all lands"; the most lovely and delightful land; "milk and honey" are not the antecedents to "which."

In the day that I lifted up my hand unto them, to bring them forth of the land of Egypt,.... Not only promised and swore to it, but exerted his power in the miracles he wrought, by bringing plagues upon the Egyptians, to oblige them to let them go forth from thence: into a land that I had espied for them; which he had in his eye and in his heart for them; which he had in his mind provided for them, and was determined in his purposes to bring them to; and which he, as it were, looked out for them, and singled out as the best and most suitable for them: flowing with milk and honey; a phrase often used, to express the fruitfulness of the land, of Canaan, and the great plenty of provisions in it: which is the glory of all lands; that is, either which fertility, signified by milk and honey, is the glory of all lands, or makes all countries desirable where they are found; or else, which land of Canaan, being so fruitful, is more glorious or desirable than any other country; it greatly surpassing all others in its situation, soil, and climate. The Targum is, "which is the praise of all provinces;'' that is, was praised and commended by the inhabitants of all other provinces for the plenty in it; which must needs be very great, to support so large a number of inhabitants in it, and yet its compass but small.

In this chapter, I. The prophet is consulted by some of the elders of Israel (Eze 20:1). II. He is instructed by his God what answer to give them. He must, 1. Signify God's displeasure against them (Eze 20:2, Eze 20:3). And, 2. He must show them what just cause he had for that displeasure, by giving them a history of God's grateful dealings with their fathers and their treacherous dealings with God. (1.) In Egypt (Eze 20:5-9). (2.) In the wilderness (v. 10-26). (3.) In Canaan (Eze 20:27-32). 3. He must denounce the judgments of God against them (Eze 20:33-36). 4. He must tell them likewise what mercy God had in store for them, when he would bring a remnant of them to repentance, re-establish them in their own land, and set up his sanctuary among them again (Eze 20:37-44). 5. Here is another word dropped towards Jerusalem, which is explained and enlarged upon in the next chapter (Eze 20:45-49).