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56. Salvation for Others

¹ This is what the LORD says:

   “Maintain justice
   and do what is right,
for my salvation is close at hand
   and my righteousness will soon be revealed.
² Blessed is the one who does this—
   the person who holds it fast,
who keeps the Sabbath without desecrating it,
   and keeps their hands from doing any evil.”

    ³ Let no foreigner who is bound to the LORD say,
   “The LORD will surely exclude me from his people.”
And let no eunuch complain,
   “I am only a dry tree.”

⁴ For this is what the LORD says:

   “To the eunuchs who keep my Sabbaths,
   who choose what pleases me
   and hold fast to my covenant—
⁵ to them I will give within my temple and its walls
   a memorial and a name
   better than sons and daughters;
I will give them an everlasting name
   that will endure forever.
⁶ And foreigners who bind themselves to the LORD
   to minister to him,
to love the name of the LORD,
   and to be his servants,
all who keep the Sabbath without desecrating it
   and who hold fast to my covenant—
⁷ these I will bring to my holy mountain
   and give them joy in my house of prayer.
Their burnt offerings and sacrifices
   will be accepted on my altar;
for my house will be called
   a house of prayer for all nations.”
⁸ The Sovereign LORD declares—
   he who gathers the exiles of Israel:
“I will gather still others to them
   besides those already gathered.”

God’s Accusation Against the Wicked

    ⁹ Come, all you beasts of the field,
   come and devour, all you beasts of the forest!
¹⁰ Israel’s watchmen are blind,
   they all lack knowledge;
they are all mute dogs,
   they cannot bark;
they lie around and dream,
   they love to sleep.
¹¹ They are dogs with mighty appetites;
   they never have enough.
They are shepherds who lack understanding;
   they all turn to their own way,
   they seek their own gain.
¹² “Come,” each one cries, “let me get wine!
   Let us drink our fill of beer!
And tomorrow will be like today,
   or even far better.”

11. And those dogs strong of appetite. The third vice which he remarks in wicked pastors is insatiable avarice. Though they are lazy in all that relates to good government, yet they have a strong and ravenous appetite for food. Some view the Prophet’s words as still more extensive, and as meaning that they rule tyrannically. Ezekiel expressly reproves them for this vice; for false prophets are commonly fierce, and act cruelly and barbarously towards the people of God. (Ezekiel 34:4) But if any person examine the matter carefully, he will perceive that the Prophet speaks of their insatiable avarice, which he afterwards describes by a variety of expressions.

They look to their ways. That is, “They attend eagerly to their own affairs; every person consults his own advantage.” In short, he means that there is no man who does not wish to be preferred to others, as if every man had been born for himself.

Every one to his gain from his end. ¹⁰¹¹⁰¹ “From his quarter.” (Eng. Ver.) “Heb. ‘this extremity,’ his quarter, be it ever so remote; that is, universally.” Stock.
“Literally, ‘From his extremity.’ Jerome correctly renders it, ‘From first to last,’ that is, without any exception; and that is the meaning which the word bears in Genesis 19:4; 47:2; Ezekiel 33:2.” Rosenmuller.
“All to a man.” Doederlein. מקצהו (mikkatzehu) has received various expositions. Some render it, “In his end,” that is, “In his affairs;” as if the reading had been, בקצהו, (bekatzehu) But this does not agree with the Prophet’s meaning. Others render it, “From the end of his avarice.” I think that a more simple interpretation is, “From his end,” that is, “On his part;“ or as we commonly say, (Chacun en son endroict,) “Every one in his place.” Thus every one is bent on avarice, and draws and appropriates everything to himself, and consults his own advantage, without attending to the duties of his office.

Hence we learn, that no man can serve God who is given up to wicked desires; and he who shall labor to amass wealth, will not apply his mind to build up the Church of the Lord. No kind of blindness can be more dangerous than avarice; and so much the more ought it to be avoided by pastors, if they wish to be faithful servants of God. When we see the Prophet complaining of the bad pastors of his time, let us not be alarmed if we meet with the same thing in the present day, and let us not look upon it as an unusual occurrence that so few are earnestly employed in the work of the Lord.