Ezekiel 6:1-7

II. DISOBEDIENCE AND DESOLATION 6:1-14

In his second discourse Ezekiel zeroes in on the places of idolatrous worship which were located in the mountains and valleys of Judah. These pagan sanctuaries, once known for their shady trees, would become desolate. There is throughout this chapter a frequent change from their to your, and from your to their, when the same persons are spoken of. This is quite in the manner of Ezekiel. The sermon contains three points of emphasis (1) a dire prediction (Ezekiel 6:1-7); (2) a confident expectation (Ezekiel 6:8-10); and (3) a distressing lamentation (Ezekiel 6:11-14).

A Dire Prediction 6:1-7

TRANSLATION

(1) And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying: (2) Son of man, set your face toward the mountains of Israel and prophesy against them, (3) and say, O mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Lord GOD Thus says the Lord GOD concerning the mountains and hills, concerning the ravines and valleys: Behold I, even I, am about to bring against you a sword, and I will destroy your high places. (4) And your altars shall be made desolate, and your incense altars shall be broken; and I shall cast down your slain before your idols. (5) And I will put the carcasses of the children of Israel before their idols; and I will scatter your bones around your altars. (6) In all of your dwelling places the cities shall become waste, and the high places shall become desolate; that they may be laid waste, and your altars may bear their guilt, and your idols be broken, and cease to be, and your incense altars be cut down, and your works wiped out, (7) And the slain shall fall in your midst, and you shall know that I am the LORD.

COMMENTS

This word of the Lord (Ezekiel 6:1) directed Ezekiel to set his face toward and prophesy against the mountains of Israel (Ezekiel 6:2). Apparently the prophet actually assumed a posture which demonstrated determination and anger; i.e., he faced westward as he spoke these words.[173] Just as the anonymous prophet of 1 Kings 13 addressed an oracle to the illegitimate Bethel altar, so Ezekiel speaks directly to the mountains of Israel. It is as though the people of Judah were so hopelessly meshed in idolatry that Ezekiel might as well speak to the mountains of the land. These mountains are not to be understood as geographical symbols of the land of Judah, but rather as theological symbols. The mountains were the places where Israel practiced idolatry. This oracle, then, goes beyond the previous discourse in that it asserts that the judgment would include the pagan shrines scattered throughout the land as well as in Jerusalem. The distraught exiles on the monotonous plains of Babylon might pine for the beloved Judean hills. But those mountains were contaminated and doomed.

[173] Cf. Ezekiel 13:17; Ezekiel 20:46; Ezekiel 21:2.

While the mountains were directly addressed, the message pertains to the hills, ravines and valleys as well. All of these areas had been contaminated by the presence of pagan high places. Remains of such high places have been discovered at Taanach, Gezer, and Petra. An altar, standing stones, a wooden pole symbolic of Asherah, and a laver were standard features of Canaanite high places. Hezekiah in the eighth century and Josiah in the seventh century made determined efforts to remove these theological cancers from the nation. But unfortunately later kings tolerated and/or encouraged pagan practices (2 Kings 18:4; 2 Kings 23:5). Both Jeremiah and Ezekiel testify to the resurgence of this corrupt worship following Josiah's valiant reform effort.

The Lord would bring the sword of destruction against the pagan high places (Ezekiel 6:3). The term sword (chereb) can denote any kind or all kinds of destructive instruments. Here the term is symbolic of the invading forces of Nebuchadnezzar which would bring death, destruction and desolation to the land. The sexual license and child sacrifice which marked the pagan worship were an abomination to God and hence had to be judged.

When the judgment of God fell, the pagan high places would be desecrated and destroyed. The sacrificial altars and smaller incense altars[174] would be destroyed. The corpses of the slain Israelites would not even be accorded the dignity of burial. They would be left to rot before their helpless idols[175] (Ezekiel 6:4). Their bones would be scattered around the altars. Death defiled (cf. Numbers 9:6-10; 2 Kings 23:14; 2 Kings 23:16). Hence the altars would be made desolate, rendered permanently unclean and unsuitable for worship (Ezekiel 6:5). A similar threat was made by Jeremiah (Jeremiah 8:1 f.). They had defiled the land with their idols; they would yet further defile it by their dead bodies. The fragrance of incense offered to pagan deities would be replaced by the stench of rotting bodies.

[174] Small limestone altars with horns too small for offering any sacrifice other than incense have been found in Palestine.
[175] The term for idols here (gillulim) is one of contempt. Ezekiel may have coined this term which means something like block-gods The term is found thirty-nine times in the book. See Feinberg, PE, p. 41

In characteristic emphasis by repetition, Ezekiel underscores the threat against the idolatrous shrines in Ezekiel 6:6-7. Here the people are directly addressed rather than the mountains. In all of their dwelling places the cities would become waste and their high places desolate. Altars, idols and incense altars would be destroyed. The work of their hands, i.e., their idols, would be wiped out[176] (Ezekiel 6:6). The slain of Judah would fall throughout the land, and no idol would be able to prevent the massacre, In that terrible day when man-made gods proved impotent, the sovereignty of the Lord would be admitted by all.

[176] The same order had been given regarding the Canaanites who occupied the land before Israel, Since Israel had adopted the ways of Canaan, they and their worship would now come under the same divine edict.

The expression you shall know that I am the Lord (Ezekiel 6:7) is characteristic of Ezekiel and occurs some sixty times in the book. It is virtually the theme of the whole work. The motivation in all God's dealings with Israel is that He be recognized as the only God. Throughout the book this expression summons the listeners to judge that it was Yahweh who had intervened, or was about to intervene, with His wrath or with His aid.