Ezekiel 7:16-19 - Joseph Benson’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

They that escape of them shall escape This might be more intelligibly rendered, There are of them who shall escape; that is, “Some few shall have the favour of escaping the common calamity, called elsewhere the escaped, or the remnant, from whence is derived the phrase οι Σωζομενοι, in the New Testament, such as are, or should be, saved.” And shall be on the mountains like doves Fearful and trembling, and bemoaning themselves on account of the calamities their sins have brought on them. All hands shall be feeble, &c. Feebleness in the hands and knees is the consequence of the weakness and failing of the spirit. They shall also gird themselves with sackcloth A general custom in the eastern countries in deep sorrows and distresses. Horror shall cover them Or, has overwhelmed them, as the same phrase is translated Psalms 55:5. Shame shall be upon all faces The marks of confusion and misery shall be seen on all faces; and baldness upon all their heads Either by their pulling off their hair amidst their sorrows, or cutting it off in token of mourning: see note on Jeremiah 48:37. They shall cast their silver in the streets Either that they may be lighter to flee, or to engage the enemy's attention, and so to give themselves time to escape out of the city. And their gold shall be removed Carried away to Babylon. Their silver and their gold shall not deliver Shall not remove the distresses of the famine, or prevent their being carried into captivity. They shall not satisfy their souls Shall not procure them food to satisfy their hunger, nor afford them any comfort. Because it is the stumbling-block of their iniquity This silver and gold, which they valued too much, coveted immeasurably, abused to the purposes of pride, luxury, oppression, and idolatry; this that they stumbled at, and fell into sin, now they stumble at, and fall into the deepest misery.