CHAPTER 22 GOD'S INDICTMENT ON JERUSALEM.
This chapter consists of three oracles spoken against Jerusalem
possibly at different times (Ezekiel 22:1; Ezekiel 22:17; Ezekiel
22:23). They are united by their message as they depict the extreme
sinfulness of Jerusalem. They also act as a warning to othe... [ Continue Reading ]
JERUSALEM, THE CITY OF BLOOD.
‘Moreover the word of Yahweh came to me saying, “And you, son of
man, will you judge, will you judge, the bloody city? Then cause her
to know all her abominations.” '
Ezekiel continues in his silent vigil, speaking only when the word of
Yahweh comes to him. God asks h... [ Continue Reading ]
‘And you will say, “Thus says the Lord Yahweh, A city that sheds
blood in the midst of her, that her time may come, and that makes
idols against herself to defile her. You are become guilty in your
blood that you have shed, and are defiled in your idols that you have
made, and you have caused your d... [ Continue Reading ]
“Behold the princes of Israel, every one according to his power,
have been in you to shed blood. In you have they treated dismissively
the authority of father and mother. In the midst of you they have
dealt with the stranger by oppression. In you they have wronged the
fatherless and the widow. You h... [ Continue Reading ]
“Slanderous men have been in you to shed blood, and in you they have
eaten on the mountains. In the midst of you they have committed
lewdness. In you they have discovered their fathers' nakedness, in you
they have humbled her who was unclean in her separation. And one has
committed abomination with... [ Continue Reading ]
“In you have they taken bribes to shed blood, you have taken usury
and increase, and you have greedily gained from your neighbours by
oppression, and have forgotten me, says the Lord Yahweh.”
In Jerusalem the love of money has made men forget God, a common
problem through the ages. Here men take bri... [ Continue Reading ]
“Behold therefore I have smitten my hand at your dishonest gain
which you have made, and at your blood which has been in the midst of
you.”
What has happened in Jerusalem has made God ‘smite his hand', in
anger and determination to do something. Two sins stand out, those of
dishonest business deali... [ Continue Reading ]
“Can your heart endure, or can your hands be strong, in the days
that I will deal with you? I, Yahweh, have spoken it and will do
it.”
God's warning comes loud and clear. Those who disobey His commandments
will have to face His judgment. And do they think that they will then
be able to endure or be... [ Continue Reading ]
“And I will scatter you among the nations, and disperse you through
the countries, and I will consume your filthiness out of you, and you
will be profaned in yourself in the sight of the nations, and you will
know that I am Yahweh.”
God will deal with them by scattering them among the nations and
d... [ Continue Reading ]
THE HOUSE OF ISRAEL WHO ARE FULL OF IMPURITY.
‘And the word of Yahweh came to me saying, “Son of man, the house
of Israel is become dross to me, all of them are brass and tin and
iron and lead in the midst of the furnace. They are the dross of
silver.”
In this second oracle ‘the house of Israel' a... [ Continue Reading ]
“Therefore thus says the Lord Yahweh, Because you are all become
dross, behold therefore I will gather you into the midst of Jerusalem,
as they gather silver and brass and iron and lead and tin into the
midst of the furnace, to blow the fire on it to melt it. So will I
gather you in my anger and in... [ Continue Reading ]
“Yes, I will gather you and blow on you with the fire of my wrath,
and you will be melted in its midst. As silver is melted in the midst
of the furnace, so will you be melted in its midst. And you will know
that I Yahweh have poured out my fury on you.”
It is now reiterated and emphasised that the... [ Continue Reading ]
‘And the word of Yahweh came to me saying, “Son of man, say to
her, You are a land that is not cleansed nor rained on in the day of
indignation.” '
Ezekiel now declares his third oracle. It concentrates on the
infiltration of evil into the whole of society. Its first warning is
that there will be n... [ Continue Reading ]
“There is a conspiracy of her prophets in the midst of her, like a
roaring lion ravening the prey. They have devoured people. They take
treasure and precious things. They have made her widows many in her
midst.”
As the text stands it declares that the prophets, who should have been
such a force for... [ Continue Reading ]
“Her priests have done violence to my law, and have profaned my holy
things. They have put no difference between the holy and the common,
nor have they caused men to distinguish between the clean and the
unclean, and they have hid their eyes from my sabbaths, and I am
profaned among them.”
The prie... [ Continue Reading ]
“Therefore have I poured out my indignation on them, I have consumed
them with the fire of my wrath. Their own way have I brought on their
heads, says the Lord Yahweh.”
It was because of this total lack of worthiness among the ‘cream' of
the land that God brought on them His final judgment. Here He... [ Continue Reading ]