20:26 And I polluted them in their own {m} gifts, in that they caused to pass through [the fire] all the firstborn, that I might make them desolate, to the end that they might know that I [am] the LORD.
(m) I condemned those things, and counted them as abominable, which they thought had been excellent and to have declared most zeal, Lu 16:15 for that which God required as most excellent they gave to their idols.
20:26 Polluted - I permitted them to pollute themselves. Might know - Be forced to own, that the Lord is a mighty king in punishing those that would not have him a gracious king in governing them.
20:10-26. The history of Israel in the wilderness is referred to in the new Testament as well as in the Old, for warning. God did great things for them. He gave them the law, and revived the ancient keeping of the sabbath day. Sabbaths are privileges; they are signs of our being his people. If we do the duty of the day, we shall find, to our comfort, it is the Lord that makes us holy, that is, truly happy, here; and prepares us to be happy, that is, perfectly holy, hereafter. The Israelites rebelled, and were left to the judgments they brought upon themselves. God sometimes makes sin to be its own punishment, yet he is not the Author of sin: there needs no more to make men miserable, than to give them up to their own evil desires and passions.
