If you, like me, think the past several chapters have been hard to read for the bad stuff in them, hold on, this one is recounting the sins of the people from God’s perspective The commandments they’ve disobeyed, the way they’ve forgotten God and lived horrible lives. The prophets had such a hard job, having to share this news. But we should be so grateful we have this to learn from despite the fact that it is terrible to read.
Let’s pray for eyes that can see the issues.
Lord help. This is horrible, wicked, depraved activity and we want to keep faithful, so help us learn from it and not succumb to the same type of behavior. Help us see the main issues without focusing too much on the evil listed here. Thank You for Your help, Lord. Amen.
Please read Ezekiel 22:1-5
The Sins of Israel
1 Then the word of the Lord came to me, saying, 2 “And you, son of man [Ezekiel], will you judge, will you judge the city of bloodshed? Then make her recognize all her repulsive acts. 3 You shall say, ‘Thus says the Lord God, “A city that sheds blood in her midst, so that her time [of doom] will come, and makes idols to defile her, contrary to her interest! 4 You have become guilty by the blood which you have shed, and you are defiled by the idols which you have made. Thus you have caused your day [of judgment and punishment] to approach and have arrived at [the completion of] your years; therefore, I have made you an object of scorn to the [pagan] nations and a thing to be mocked by all countries. 5 Those who are near and those who are far from you will mock you, you [infamous one] of ill repute, full of turmoil.
It was kind of God to ask Ezekiel if he would do it again. I imagine he told God yes, because he does it. Would you do what God has called you to do if the news was too hard to share? Oh God, help me. This is so hard to share. But these are Your words and Your words are very important to listen to.
It’s been a long time since I heard the words ‘ill repute’. Boy did that ever take me back home. Not that there was a house of that where I grew up, it’s just a word I remember family using to describe places when we would study school stuff. Mostly because I think the song be careful little eyes what you see, be careful little ears what you hear, was something family tried really hard to stick to. They weren’t always successful, but they tried hard.
Those far away will mock them for this. That infamous place full of turmoil and ill repute.
Commandments Disobeyed
Please read Ezekiel 22:6-8
6 “Behold, the princes of Israel, every one according to his power, have been intending to shed blood in you. 7 In you they have treated father and mother lightly. They have oppressed the stranger among you; and in your presence they have wronged the fatherless and the widow. 8 You have despised and scorned My sacred things and have profaned My Sabbaths.
Can you count the awful things in those three verses? How many commandments they disobeyed? Here, let me remind you what the commandments said in the Old Testament times.
The Commandments
Exodus 20:2-17
Then God spoke all these words:
2 “I am the Lord your God, who has brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.
3 “You shall have no other gods before Me.
4 “You shall not make for yourself any idol, or any likeness (form, manifestation) of what is in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the water under the earth [as an object to worship]. 5 You shall not worship them nor serve them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous (impassioned) God [[a]demanding what is rightfully and uniquely mine], visiting (avenging) the iniquity (sin, guilt) of the fathers on the children [that is, calling the children to account for the sins of their fathers], to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me, 6 but showing graciousness and steadfast lovingkindness to thousands [of generations] of those who love Me and keep My commandments.
7 “You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain [that is, irreverently, in false affirmations or in ways that impugn the character of God]; for the Lord will not hold guiltless nor leave unpunished the one who [b]takes His name in vain [disregarding its reverence and its power].
8 “Remember the Sabbath (seventh) day to keep it holy (set apart, dedicated to God). 9 Six days you shall labor and do all your work, 10 but the seventh day is a Sabbath [a day of rest dedicated] to the Lord your God; on that day you shall not do any work, you or your son, or your daughter, or your male servant, or your female servant, or your livestock or the temporary resident (foreigner) who stays within your [city] gates. 11 For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea and everything that is in them, and He rested (ceased) on the seventh day. That is why the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy [that is, set it apart for His purposes].
12 “Honor (respect, obey, care for) your father and your mother, so that your days may be prolonged in the land the Lord your God gives you.
13 “You shall not commit murder (unjustified, deliberate homicide).
14 “You shall not commit [c]adultery.
15 “You shall not steal [secretly, openly, fraudulently, or through carelessness].
16 “You shall not testify falsely [that is, lie, withhold, or manipulate the truth] against your neighbor (any person).
17 “You shall not covet [that is, selfishly desire and attempt to acquire] your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his male servant, or his female servant, or his ox, or his donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.”
Remembering the Sabbath and keeping it holy is one thing that comes up over and over in my head. And just this past Sunday, it was the title to my pastor’s sermon.
So glad that in Jesus, the commandment is Love. Love for one another. Love for Him.
Remember God, they Didn’t – Commandments Disobeyed
Please read Ezekiel 22:9-12
9 In you are men who slander for the purpose of shedding blood, and in your presence they have eaten [food offered to idols] at the mountain shrines; in your midst they have committed acts of lewdness. 10 In you men have uncovered their fathers’ nakedness [the nakedness of mother or stepmother]; in you they have violated women who are [set apart as ceremonially] unclean during their menstrual impurity [or after childbirth]. 11 In you one has committed a shameful act with his neighbor’s wife, another has lewdly defiled his daughter-in-law, and another has violated his sister, his father’s daughter. 12 In you they have accepted bribes to shed blood; you have taken [forbidden] interest and [a percentage of] profits, and you have injured your neighbors for gain by oppression and extortion, and you have forgotten Me,” says the Lord God.
More of the commandments they ignored. It’s just horrible. The worst part here is “you have forgotten Me.” Oh may we never do that.
You know, probably based on emails that I’ve sent, that I read the verse of the Day on Biblegateway.com every day, or at least most days, my goal is every day. Well, this is the promise on the day I am writing this.
Our Loving, Kind God.
Psalm 103:17-18 (Amplified Bible)
But the lovingkindness of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting on those who [reverently] fear Him, And His righteousness to children’s children, To those who honor and keep His covenant, And remember to do His commandments [imprinting His word on their hearts].
These people have not honored and kept his covenant and have certainly broken many commandments. Yet break one and you’ve broken them all. So that is why God says “you have caused your day [of judgment and punishment] to approach and have arrived at [the completion of] your years”
Please read Ezekiel 22:13-16
13 “Behold, therefore, I strike My hands [together] at your dishonest gain which you have acquired and at the bloodshed which is among you. 14 Can your heart (courage) endure, or can your hands be strong in the days that I will deal with you? I the Lord have spoken, and will act. 15 I will scatter you among the nations and disperse you through the countries, and I will destroy your filthiness. 16 You will defile yourself in the sight of the [Gentile] nations, and you will know [without any doubt] that I am the Lord.”’”
Know because only He can judge them this way. Know because they will be mocked and others will look on them with utter astonishment that they would ignore God in such a way. It’s like the commandments are meant to remind them of God.
The Uselessness of their Behavior
Please read Ezekiel 22:17-22
17 And the word of the Lord came to me, saying, 18“Son of man, the house of Israel has become dross (metallic waste) to Me. All of them are (useless) bronze, tin, iron, and lead in the furnace; they are the dross of silver. 19 Therefore, thus says the Lord God, ‘Because you have all become dross, therefore, behold, I will gather you [O Israel] into the midst of Jerusalem. 20 As they gather silver and bronze and iron and lead and tin into the furnace to blow fire on it in order to melt it, so I will gather you in My anger and in My wrath, and I will put you there and melt you. 21 I will gather you and blow on you with the fire of My wrath, and you will be melted in the midst of it. 22 As silver is melted in the furnace, so will you be melted in the midst of it; and you will know [without any doubt] that I the Lord have poured out My wrath on you [O Israel].’”
Do you hear ‘thy dross to consume and thy gold to refine” It’s a hymn. How Firm a Foundation, verse 4
“When through fiery trials thy pathway shall lie,
My grace, all sufficient, shall be thy supply;
The flame shall not hurt thee; I only design
Thy dross to consume, and thy gold to refine.”
It’s a promise for the faithful, and in this chapter, it’s going the other way because these people are not in any way faithful. They have forgotten God and He is judging them and telling them again, they will know without doubt, it is He who judges them.
More Wickedness and Uselessness
Please read Ezekiel 22:23-26
23 And the word of the Lord came to me, saying, 24 “Son of man, say to her, ‘You [Israel] are a land that is not pronounced clean or rained on in the day of indignation.’ 25 There is a conspiracy of her [false] prophets in her midst, like a roaring lion tearing the prey. They have devoured [human] life; they have taken [in their greed] treasure and precious things; they have made many widows among her. 26 Her priests have done violence to My law and have profaned My holy things. They have made no distinction between the holy (sacred) and the profane (secular), they have not taught [people] the difference between the unclean and the clean; and they hide their eyes from My Sabbaths, and I am profaned among them.
The things he is listing. Oh my, there are consequences to every action. There are ways to live righteously. These acts are not those ways. This is an example of what not to do. Remember who He is. Remember Whose you are.
No One to Stand in the Gap
Please read Ezekiel 22:27-31
27 Her princes within her are like wolves tearing and devouring the prey, shedding blood and destroying lives in order to get dishonest gain. 28 Her prophets have smeared whitewash for them, seeing false visions and divining lies for them, saying, ‘Thus says the Lord God’—when the Lord has not spoken. 29 The people of the land have practiced oppression and extortion and have committed robbery; they have wronged the poor and needy and they have oppressed the stranger without justice. 30 I searched for a man among them who would build up the wall and stand in the gap before Me for [the sake of] the land, that I would not destroy it, but I found no one [not even one]. 31 Therefore I have poured out My indignation on them; I have consumed them with the fire of My wrath; I have repaid their way [by bringing it] upon their own heads,” says the Lord God.
So many sins listed, commandments disobeyed. And that last phrase of God’s. “I have repaid their way [by bringing it] upon their own heads,” We can praise Jesus for grace. Praise Him for never letting us go. Praise Him for being closer than our breath. Praise Him for being our Righteousness. And be so grateful in our time, He’s already come and we have all the Scriptures telling us how to walk out our faith. But we also need to be grateful for the things telling us how not to be. And this chapter certainly listed several of them.
Grow your faith.