27 "Therefore, son of man, give the people of Israel this message from the Sovereign Lord : Your ancestors continued to blaspheme and betray me, 28 for when I brought them into the land I had promised them, they offered sacrifices on every high hill and under every green tree they saw! They roused my fury as they offered up sacrifices to their gods. They brought their perfumes and incense and poured out their liquid offerings to them. 29 I said to them, 'What is this high place where you are going?' (This kind of pagan shrine has been called Bamah-'high place'-ever since.) 30 "Therefore, give the people of Israel this message from the Sovereign Lord : Do you plan to pollute yourselves just as your ancestors did? Do you intend to keep prostituting yourselves by worshiping vile images? 31 For when you offer gifts to them and give your little children to be burned as sacrifices, you continue to pollute yourselves with idols to this day. Should I allow you to ask for a message from me, OÂ people of Israel? As surely as I live, says the Sovereign Lord, I will tell you nothing. 32 "You say, 'We want to be like the nations all around us, who serve idols of wood and stone.' But what you have in mind will never happen.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on Ezekiel 20:27-32
Commentary on Ezekiel 20:27-32
(Read Ezekiel 20:27-32)
The Jews persisted in rebellion after they settled in the land of Canaan. And these elders seem to have thought of uniting with the heathen. We make nothing by our profession if it be but a profession. There is nothing got by sinful compliances; and the carnal projects of hypocrites will stand them in no stead.