Ezekiel 5:9 - Ellicott's Commentary On The Whole Bible

That which I have not done, and where-unto I will not do any more the like. — Our Lord uses similar language (Matthew 24:21) in foretelling the final destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans. But all question whether Ezekiel here looks forward to that calamity, and all comparison between that and the destruction under Nebuchadnezzar, are out of place. What the prophet here intends is not a comparison between different judgments upon the Jews, but between God’s treatment of them and of others. As they had received at His hand higher opportunities and privileges than He had before given or would afterwards give to any other nation, so must the punishment for their sin be more severe and more conspicuous than He had inflicted or would inflict on any other. All the Divine judgments upon them through all time may therefore be considered as here coming into view. The present captivity and the impending destruction of the temple were but single features of a long series of judgments, in the course of which the terrible particulars mentioned in Ezekiel 5:10 should have place, ending with what is the present condition of the people before our eyes, scattered “into all the winds.” Such evils had been foretold by their prophets all through their history as the consequence of disobedience (see Leviticus 26:29; Deuteronomy 28:53 — the sons eating their fathers is a fearful addition here; Jeremiah 19:9), and from time to time had in some degree come to pass (2 Kings 6:28-29; Lamentations 2:20), although the culmination of the punishment, like the culmination of the sin, was still future.