Ezekiel 20:38 - Coke's Commentary on the Holy Bible

And I will purge out, &c.— The prophet carries on the comparison of the Egyptian deliverance. These rebels, like their fathers in the wilderness, were indeed to be brought out of captivity, but were never to enjoy the Promised Land; and the rest, like the children in the wilderness, were to have the yoke of the ritual law made still more galling: and thus the comparison is completed. These were the three different punishments inflicted in these different periods: the first personal; the second and the third national; only the third made heavier than the second, in proportion to their accumulated offences. Div. Leg.