Verse 4 Wilt thou judge them - If thou wilt enter into any discussion with them, show them the abomination of their fathers. The whole chapter is a consecutive history of the unfaithfulness ingratitude, rebellion, and idolatry of the Jews, from the earliest times to that day; and vindicates the sentence which God had pronounced against them, and which he was about to execute more fully in delivering them and the city into the hands of the Chaldeans.

Eze 20:4

Wilt thou judge them, etc.? The doubled question has the force of a strong imperative. The prophet is directed, as it were, to assume the office of a judge, and as such to press home upon his hearers, and through them upon others, their own sins and those of their fathers. He is led, in doing so, to yet another survey of the nation’s history; not now, as in Eze 16:1-63; in figurative language, but directly.

Eze 20:5, Eze 20:6

In the day that I lifted up mine hand. The attitude was that of one who takes an oath (Exo 6:8), and implies the confirmation of the covenant made with Abraham. The land flowing with milk and honey appears first in Exo 3:8, and became proverbial. The glory of all lands is peculiar to Ezekiel. Isaiah (Isa 13:19) applies the word to Babylon.