Ezekiel 8:17-18

C. The Announcement of Judgment 8:17-18

TRANSLATION

(17) And He said unto me, Have you seen, son of man? Is it a light thing to the house of Judah that they are doing abominations which they have done here? for they have filled the land with violence and they have provoked Me still more, and behold they are putting the branch to their nose. (18) Therefore also I will deal with them in fury; My eye will not have compassion nor will I take pity; when they cry in My ears with a loud voice I will not hear them.

COMMENTS

Judah was ripe for judgment. The abominations practiced throughout the land were viewed by most as a light thing. But to the Lord they were a provocation. Do you see this, son of man? suggests that Ezekiel was a little uncertain in his own mind as to the necessity of the judgment which he had been preaching (cf. Jeremiah 5:1-3).

The breakdown in devotion to God led to social chaos. They had filled the land with violence. Proper theology must undergird proper morality. Such social injustice only provoked the Lord that much more. If the root of faith is severed, there can be no fruit of righteousness.[226]

[226] Blackwood, EPH, p. 76.

Commentators vie with one another in the ingenuity with which they attempt to explain the charge that they are puffing the branch to their nose (Ezekiel 8:17). Is it some otherwise unattested idolatrous act? or is it some obscene gesture of contempt? The expression has not yet been satisfactorily explained. One proposal is that a bundle of Tamarisk branches was held up to the nose at daybreak, as hymns were sung to the rising sun.[227] Certainly some grossly offensive act is intended. Rabbinic tradition lists this phrase among the few deliberate emendations of the ancient scribes. The original reading was, They put the branch to MY nose.

[227] Such a custom is reported by Strabo (XV 3, 14) as being observed by the magi when engaged in prayer.

On the basis of the evidence presented in chapter 8 God had no alternative but to deal with these people in fury. Compassion and pity as far as the nation was concerned was out of the question. Prayer would be useless. No matter how loudly they cried He would not hear them (Ezekiel 8:18). The day of grace was over; the day of wrath had come.