Ezekiel 7:23-27

4. The political disorder (7:23-27)

TRANSLATION

(23) Make the chain; for the land is full of bloodshed, and the city is full of violence. (24) Therefore I have brought the worst of nations, and they shall possess their houses, and I shall make to cease the pride of the strong and their sanctuaries shall be profaned. (25) Horror is coming! and they shall seek peace and there is none. (26) Calamity upon calamity shall come, and rumor shall be upon rumor; and they shall seek a vision from the prophet, and instruction shall perish from the priest, and counsel from the elders, (27) The king shall mourn and the prince shall be clothed with astonishment, and the hands of the people of the land shall become feeble; according to their way I will deal with them, and according to their judgments I will judge them; and they shall know that I am the LORD.

COMMENTS

Apparently here Ezekiel performed yet another symbolic act. He made a chain[193] which symbolized the coming exile (Ezekiel 7:23).[194] This punishment is necessary because Judah was full of bloodshed and violence[195] (Ezekiel 7:23).

[193] The translation is uncertain. The Greek version reads they shall make confusion: the Syriac, they shall pass through the bricks.

[194] Cf. Jeremiah 27:2; Nahum 3:10.

[195] The Hebrew reads literally, judgment of bloods, which may mean capital crimes.

God would employ the worst of nations against Judah. This is one of the rare instances when Ezekiel speaks derogatorily of the Babylonians. In Ezekiel 28:7 and Ezekiel 30:11 he refers to the Babylonians as the terrible of the nations. But his language here is not so much intended to abuse the invaders as to show how low Israel had fallen. The people of God must indeed be wretched for God to send against them men who make no pretense of maintaining just and right behavior. The ruthless invaders would possess their houses. By means of this invader God would make to cease the pride of the strong, i.e., He would humble the proud rulers of Judah, especially the monarchy and priesthood. The sanctuaries of Judah, both the pagan and the proper, would be profaned by these invaders (Ezekiel 7:24).

Efforts to placate the foe and arrange some peaceful accommodation would fail. There would be no escape from this horrible fate (Ezekiel 7:25). The false prophets had assured them that peace was possible. They would now discover that those optimistic predictions were unfounded. The future judgment would become progressively worse. Calamity upon calamity and rumor upon rumor (Ezekiel 7:26). News of one blow will immediately be followed by news of another.

In their desperation people would turn at last to their spiritual leaders for guidance, but will find none (cf. Lamentations 2:9). The false prophets who had for so long misled the people with their made-to order visions would have nothing to say in that hour when their optimistic prognostications would prove to be false. The priests would have no instruction, the elders no useful political counsel in that day (Ezekiel 7:26). The crisis would leave them without direction from their religious and national leaders (cf. Jeremiah 18:18). If the reference in Ezekiel 7:26 is to faithful spiritual leaders, then the idea is this. They had for so long rejected the words of God's spokesman. Now in the hour of judgment God would no longer communicate with them through these godly men.

The political as well as the spiritual leaders would be unable to cope with that day. The king would only be able to mourn as he saw his people suffering and his crown slipping from his grasp. Other members of the ruling class the prince would be clothed with astonishment; i.e., they would be dumbfounded in the face of what would transpire.

Without guidance from spiritual leaders and leadership from the royal family the people of the land[196] would be incapacitated by fear. They would be helpless to defend themselves, for their hands would become feeble (Ezekiel 7:27). The judgment would be a just recompense. God would deal with His people as they had dealt with others. He would judge them as unmercifully as they had judged one another.

[196] The phrase people of the land has various meanings in the Old Testament. Here the phrase probably refers to the general populace.

When all these predictions had come to pass all the survivors would know that Yahweh had really spoken these ominous words.