(5) When I chose Israel.--In Ezekiel 20:5-9 the Lord takes up the first, or Egyptian period of the history* of Israel. The record of that period, as it has come to us in the Pentateuch, does not contain either any commands against idolatry, or any notice of the rebellion of the people against such command; but both are clearly implied. The very mission of Moses to deliver them rested upon a covenant by which they were to be the peculiar people of Jehovah (Exodus 6:2-4); the command to go into the wilderness to sacrifice to the Lord implies that this was a duty neglected in Egypt; and their previous habitual idolatries may be certainly inferred from Leviticus 17:7, while the disposition of their hearts is seen in their prompt relapse into the idolatry of the golden calf in Exodus 32. Their whole murmurings and rebellions were but the manifestation of their resistance to having the Lord for their God, and His will for their guide.

Lifted up mine hand--As the form of taking an oath (see Ezekiel 20:23 and Ezekiel 47:14). The reference is to such passages as Genesis 15:17-21; Exodus 6:8; Deuteronomy 32:40, &c. The phrase is repeated in Ezekiel 20:6. which is a continuation of Ezekiel 20:5.

Verses 5, 6. - In the day that I lifted up mine hand. The attitude was that of one who takes an oath (Exodus 6:8), and implies the confirmation of the covenant made with Abraham. The land flowing with milk and honey appears first in Exodus 3:8, and became proverbial. The glory of all lands is peculiar to Ezekiel. Isaiah (Isaiah 13:19) applies the word to Babylon.

20:1-9. Those hearts are wretchedly hardened which ask God leave to go on in sin, and that even when suffering for it; see ver.And say unto them, thus saith the Lord God,.... Here begins the account of their fathers; of God's unmerited goodness to them, and of their sins and transgressions against him, and how it fared with them:

in the day when I chose Israel; to be his peculiar people, above all people on the face of the earth; when he declared his choice of them, and made it appear that he had chosen them, and distinguished them, by special blessings and favours bestowed on them:

and lifted up mine hand to the seed of the house of Jacob; the posterity of Jacob or Israel, to whom the Lord swore that he would do such and such things for them; of which the lifting up the hand was a token; it is a gesture used in swearing, Daniel 12:7; and so the Targum,

"and I swore unto them by my word:''

and made myself known unto them in the land of Egypt: by his name Jehovah; by the prophets he sent unto them, Moses, Aaron, and Miriam; and by the miracles he wrought among them:

when I lifted up mine hand unto them, saying, I am the Lord your God: making promise of it, declaring it unto them, confirming it with an oath; see Hebrews 6:17.