Ezekiel 24:13.
Because I have purged thee, and thou wast not purged, thou shall not be purged from thy filthiness any more, till I have caused my fury to rest upon thee.
These words are represented as irreconcilable with God’s decrees of election and reprobation as inconsistent with the doctrine of particular redemption, and in favor of sufficient grace given to all men.[1] But,
1. The words are not spoken to all men, nor do they declare what God hath done for, or what he would have done by all men; but are directed only to Jerusalem, or the house of Israel, whose destruction is here represented under the parable of a boiling pot; and do not discover any design of God, or steps that he has taken towards the purgation of all mankind, and therefore no ways militate against the decrees of election and reprobation.
2. This purgation of Jerusalem, and the inhabitants thereof, is to be understood either of ceremonial purifications, or of an external reformation of life and manners, and not of an internal cleansing of them, much less of all men, from sin, by the blood of Jesus; and so is no ways inconsistent with the doctrine of particular redemption.
3. These words do not express what God had done, and was not done; which is a contradiction in terms; nor what he had done sufficient for their purgation, but was obstructed by their obstinacy; or that he would have purged them, and they would not be purged; for our God is in the heavens; he hath done whatsoever he pleased (Ps. 115:3), but what he commanded to be done, and was not done; for so the words should be rendered; as they are by Pagnine, Jussi ut mundares to, et non mundasti to, I commanded that thou shouldest purge thyself, and thou hast not purged thyself; to which, agrees the note of Junius on the text. Verbo praecepi to mundari et toties et tamdiu per prophetas imperavi, I have in my word, and by my prophets, so often and so long commanded thee to be purged. The sense of them is, that God had commanded either ceremonial ablutions and purifications, or a moral, external reformation, and they had not obeyed; and therefore threatens to leave them in their filthiness, and pour out all his fury on them; and so are no proof of God’s giving sufficient grace, or sufficient means of grace to all men. The text in Jeremiah 2:9, We told have healed Babylon, but she is not healed, is very improperly joined with this, since they are not the words of God, expressing any kind intentions, or sufficient means of healing, which were obstructed, as through mistake, they are represented by a learned writer;[2] but of the Israelites, or others, who were concerned for the temporal welfare of Babylon, though in vain, and to no purpose.
ENDNOTES:
[1] Whitby, pp. 77, 160, 204, 251,252, 447: ed. 2. 76, 156, 199, 245, 246, 452.
[2] Whitby, pp. 204, 477; ed. 2. 199, 456.
