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Ezekiel 20:25-26

IndigoChild5559

Loving God and my neighbor as myself.
Can you all help me understnd this text?

Ezekiel 20:25-26
כה וְגַם-אֲנִי נָתַתִּי לָהֶם, חֻקִּים לֹא טוֹבִים; וּמִשְׁפָּטִים--לֹא יִחְיוּ, בָּהֶם. 25 Wherefore I gave them also statutes that were not good, and ordinances whereby they should not live;
כו וָאֲטַמֵּא אוֹתָם בְּמַתְּנוֹתָם, בְּהַעֲבִיר כָּל-פֶּטֶר רָחַם: לְמַעַן אֲשִׁמֵּם--לְמַעַן אֲשֶׁר יֵדְעוּ, אֲשֶׁר אֲנִי יְהוָה. {ס} 26 and I polluted them in their own gifts, in that they set apart all that openeth the womb, that I might destroy them, to the end that they might know that I am the LORD. {S}
 

Harel13

Am Yisrael Chai
Staff member
Premium Member
I don't have it before me now, but I recall that in Asher Weiser's commentary on the book, he wrote on verse 25 that the laws and ordinances given by Hashem seemed not good because Yisrael misinterpreted them. I don't remember what he said about the next verse, but logically, it seems that the next is a follow-up of what happens when one misinterprets Hashem's laws: Rather than being elevated to a higher spiritual level, one will become contaminated with impurity. This is necessary to bring about the process that will lead Yisrael to realize what they have done wrong and, then, and only then, will they properly recognize Hashem. This last bit is the number one theme in Yechezkel. Practically every paragraph ends with Hashem's promise that after this and that happens, Yisrael will know Hashem.
 

rosends

Well-Known Member
Can you all help me understnd this text?

Ezekiel 20:25-26
כה וְגַם-אֲנִי נָתַתִּי לָהֶם, חֻקִּים לֹא טוֹבִים; וּמִשְׁפָּטִים--לֹא יִחְיוּ, בָּהֶם. 25 Wherefore I gave them also statutes that were not good, and ordinances whereby they should not live;
כו וָאֲטַמֵּא אוֹתָם בְּמַתְּנוֹתָם, בְּהַעֲבִיר כָּל-פֶּטֶר רָחַם: לְמַעַן אֲשִׁמֵּם--לְמַעַן אֲשֶׁר יֵדְעוּ, אֲשֶׁר אֲנִי יְהוָה. {ס} 26 and I polluted them in their own gifts, in that they set apart all that openeth the womb, that I might destroy them, to the end that they might know that I am the LORD. {S}
25 -- Rashi, via the Targum Yonatan, says that it means, "I delivered them into the hands of their foolish temptation, and they went and made decrees that were not good, and practices by which they cannot live."

The Radak says (my translation) "since they spurned my laws, I placed them into the hands of their enemies who would put on them laws that weren't good for them"

The malbim says that the people, once they showed disdain for God's laws made the claim that the laws were not good for them to follow.

26 -- Rashi explains: "Those gifts that I legislated for them to hallow for Me every firstborn—I delivered them into the hands of their temptation: to pass those firstborn to the Molech. Hence the statutes that are not good."
 
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