JUDGMENT TIME
Ezekiel 22-24
Introduction:
The world around us mocks the idea of judgment. People act as if they can ignore God and live as they please without consequence. Consider the statement that was made by President Clinton’s Aids Czar:
“The United States needs to view human sexuality as an essentially important and pleasurable thing. Until it does so, we will continue to be a repressed, Victorian society that misrepresents information, denies homosexual sexuality, particularly in teens, and leaves people abandoned with no place to go. I can help just a little bit in my job, standing on the White House lawn talking about sex with no lightning bolts falling on my head.”
Don’t believe the lie that judgment for sin will not come. Be careful not to embrace the world’s flippant denial that God judges sin. God is holy and just. As God’s people, it is important that we recognize that God cannot and will not ignore our sinful conduct. He will judge His people when they act like the pagans around them so they will know Whom they are dealing with–so they will know “HE IS THE LORD.” The principle that God is just and will judge sin is abundantly clear in Ezekiel 22-24. The people of Israel have forgotten God’s glory. They are living by the world’s standards. Instead of being set apart, they are just like everyone else. God’s justice cannot wait any longer. The time for judgment has come.
Causes of Impending Judgment (Ezekiel 22:1-16)
Ezekiel 22:1-5– “The word of the LORD came to me: Son of man, will you judge her? Will you judge this city of
bloodshed? Then confront her with all her detestable practices and say: ‘This is what the Sovereign LORD says: O
city that brings on herself doom by shedding blood in her midst and defiles herself by making idols, you have
become guilty because of the blood you have shed and have become defiled by the idols you have made. You have
brought your days to a close, and the end of your years has come. Therefore I will make you an object of scorn to
the nations and a laughingstock to all the countries. Those who are near and those who are far away will mock you,
O infamous city, full of turmoil.’”
Ezekiel addresses two primary causes of God’s impending judgment:
Bloodshed–people are murdering one another instead of loving one another
Idolatry–people are making idols instead of loving God
God’s commandments clearly spell out for His people their obligations in regards to how they are to relate to Him and how they are to relate to one another. God’s people are demonstrating utter disregard for and defiance of God’s commands of them.
In relationship to one another, God commanded His people not to commit murder (Exodus 20:13). In the first 12 verses of Ezekiel 22, blood shed is mentioned six times. The people of God are responsible to honor their fathers and their mothers (Exodus 20:12). Instead they are treating their fathers and mothers with contempt (Ezekiel 22:7). In relationship to the helpless, the alien, the fatherless, and the widow, Israel was responsible not to oppress, mistreat or take advantage of people in these situations (Exodus 22:21-22; 23:9). What are they doing?–the exact opposite–they are oppressing the aliens and mistreating the fatherless and the widows (Ezekiel 22:7). God’s people are commanded not to covet their neighbor’s wife nor to commit adultery. In violation of God’s commands, His people are committing detestable offenses with their neighbor’s wife (Ezekiel 22:11). In Israel, when a brother was in need, no interest was to be charged for the money that was lent to him (Exodus 22:25). Instead of being loving and compassionate to needy Israelites, the people are taking usury and excessive interest (Ezekiel 22:12).
In relationship to God, God’s people knew full well that they were not to worship other gods nor were they to make and worship idols (Exodus 20:3-4). They knew they were responsible to remember the Sabbath and keep it holy (Exodus 20:8-11). What are God’s people doing? They are making idols for themselves, they are eating at mountain shrines and committing lewd acts, they are despising God’s holy things and desecrating His Sabbath.
The heart of the matter– Israel forgot the LORD
Israel forgot who they were dealing with. They forgot the LORD and His glory. In order that Israel will know that He is the LORD, God is about to judge them.
Ezekiel 22:13-16– “I will surely strike my hands together at the unjust gain you have made and at the blood you have shed in your midst. Will your courage endure or your hands be strong in the day I deal with you? I the LORD have spoke, and I will do it. I will disperse you among the nations and scatter you through the countries; and I will put an end to your uncleanness. When you have been defiled in the eyes of the nations, you will know that I am the LORD.”
Picture of Coming Judgment: A Furnace (22:17-22)
Israel is regarded as dross to God. As metal is gathered together and thrown into a furnace, the people will be gathered together into Jerusalem which will become like a furnace of judgment. As metal is melted in a furnace, so God would melt His people in the city. When judgment comes, the LORD’s people will know His wrath has been poured upon them.
More Causes of Impending Judgment (22:23-31)
Because of Israel’s sin, she would receive no rain or blessing from God in the day of wrath. Following the lead of their leaders, the people failed in their responsibilities before the LORD. In Israel, there was a clear void of godly, righteous leadership. Ezekiel mentions four categories of leaders along with their failures.
The princes, probably the members of the royal family, use their power for material gain. Like a roaring lion tearing its prey, they devour people and make many widows so as to acquire treasures and precious things for themselves.
The religious leaders are no better. The priests who should be instructing the people in the ways of God and leading in the observance of the Law’s statutes are instead doing violence to God’s law and are profaning God’s holy things. They are failing to observe or teach the difference between what is holy and what is common, what is clean and what is unclean. They are shutting their eyes to the keeping of the Sabbaths. As the result, God is profaned amongst His people.
The government officials, like the princes, are shedding blood and killing people for unjust gain.
Rather than being God’s spokesmen and denouncing wicked deeds, the prophets are making false claims to be speaking for God and are white-washing the politicians’ wickedness.
The common people are no different than their leaders. They are following their lead by oppressing and mistreating the helpless through extortion and robbery. So rulers oppress the common people and the common people turn around and oppress the helpless.
Everyone is looking out for #1 and doing violence toward anyone who gets in their way
The corruption of Israel has become so complete that when God searches for a man who could stem the tide of coming judgment and destruction, he could find none. (Read Ezekiel 22:30)
No one can be found to stand in the gap
No one in a position of authority has the moral quality to lead the nation aright
Israel’s extensive decay and sin demanded God’s justice. God concludes this message of judgment by announcing, “I will pour out my wrath on them and consume them with my fiery anger, bringing down on their own heads all they have done, declares the Sovereign LORD” (22:31).
The parable of two unfaithful sisters (23:1-49)
Ezekiel is given a parable in which Northern Israel and Judah are compared to two unfaithful, adulterous sisters involved in prostitution.
Ezekiel 23:1-4- “The word of the LORD came to me: ‘Son of man, there were two women, daughters of the same mother. They became prostitutes in Egypt, engaging in prostitution from their youth....The older was named Oholah, and her sister was Oholibah. They were mine and gave birth to sons and daughters. Oholah is Samaria, and Oholibah is Jerusalem.”
This is the second time Ezekiel compares Israel to a prostitute. The first time, He did so to confront the nation’s idolatry–the nation trusted in idols rather than trusting in the LORD (chapter 16). This second time, He does so to confront the nation’s clinging to political allies and trusting in them rather than trusting in the LORD.
The sister’s adulterous alliances:
Oholah = Samaria (N. Israel) allies with Assyria = > taken captive by Assyria
Oholibah = Jerusalem (Judah) forms alliances with several nations = > taken captive by Babylonia.
Because of the sometimes lewd and explicit language used to describe Israel and Judah’s unfaithfulness in clinging to foreign alliances rather than trusting in God, I will not read certain portions of this passage publicly, but will instead provide a summary of what these passages communicate.
Instead of trusting the LORD, Northern Israel clings to and leans upon Assyria (23:5-8).
Israel’s relationship with Assyria is well documented. One of the records of the Assyrian king Shalmaneser III (The Black Obelisk) pictures Jehu, one of Israel’s kings, bowing down to the Assyrian monarch. During Jehu’s reign, we know that the nation of Syria posed a threat to Israel (2 Kings 10:32-34). According to the Assyrian record, to counter that threat, Jehu allied Israel with Assyria, submitting himself as a vassal. In addition to this alliance, Scripture records how two later kings of Israel, Menahem and Hoshea, paid tribute to Assyria (2 Kings 15:19-20; 17:3-4). There are also several occurrences in the book of Hosea where the prophet rebukes Israel for her dependence on Assyria instead of on the LORD (5:13-14; 7:11; 8:9; 12:1).
The very nation Israel turned to for assistance destroys her (23:9-10).
Israel fell under Assyria’s wrath. She was stripped of her clothes, she had her sons and daughters taken away, and she was killed with the sword. She became a byword among women and punishment was inflicted on her.
The judgment of the Northern Israel should have been a warning to Judah.
Instead, Judah becomes more depraved than Northern Israel.
Ezekiel 23:11- “Her sister Oholibah saw this, yet .... she was more depraved than her sister.”
Judah trusts Assyria rather than relying on God as Israel had done before her (23:12-13)
When the king of Aram and the king of Israel came to attack Ahaz, king of Judah, listen to what he did: “Ahaz sent messengers to say to Tiglath-Pileser king of Assyria, ‘I am your servant and vassal. Come up and save me out of the hand of the king of Aram and of the king of Israel, who are attacking me.’ And Ahaz took the silver and gold found in the temple of the LORD and in the treasuries of the royal palace and sent it as a gift to the king of Assyria. The king of Assyria complied by attacking Damascus and capturing it. He deported its inhabitants to Kir and put Rezin to death” (2 Kings 16:7-9).
Judah carries her prostitution still further by turning to Babylon (23:14-16)
2 Kings 24:1– “During Jehoiakim’s reign, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon invaded the land, and Jehoiakim became his vassal for three years. But then he changed his mind and rebelled against Nebuchadnezzar.”
After turning away from Babylon, she becomes more and more promiscuous and clings once again to Egypt (23:17-21).
The punishment of the sisters (23:22-49)
Because Judah clings to foreign alliances rather than trusting in God, the LORD turns away from her in disgust as He had done with Israel. In Ezekiel 23:22-49, Israel pronounces judgment to both Israel and Judah in a series of four oracles. Each oracle begins with the words, “This is what the Sovereign LORD says....”
God will use Judah’s “lovers” to execute judgment on her. The nations she clung to would turn against her (23:22-27)
“Therefore, Ohlibah, this is what the Sovereign LORD says: I will stir up your lovers against you, those you turned away from in disgust, and I will bring them against you from every side.....They will come against you with weapons, chariots and wagons, and with a throng of people; they will take up positions against you on every side with large and small shields and with helmets. I will turn you over to them for punishment, and they will punish you according to their standards. I will direct my jealous anger against you, and they will deal with you in fury. They will cut off your noses and your ears, and those of you who are left will fall by the sword. They will take away your sons and daughters, and those of you who are left will be consumed by fire. They will also strip you of your clothes and take your fine jewelry” (23:22-26)
Judah will be left stripped of everything because of her political and spiritual adultery (23:28-31)
Judah will drink the cup of God’s judgment as Samaria had to do already (23:32-34)
“This is what the Sovereign Lord says: ‘You will drink your sister’s cup, a cup large and deep; it will bring scorn and derision, for it holds so much. You will be filled with drunkenness and sorrow, the cup of ruin and desolation, the cup of your sister Samaria’” (23:32-33).
Judah and Samaria threw God behind their backs in pursuit of idolatry and foreign alliances (23:35-44).
The depths of sin into which God’s people have become involved is unimaginable. Listen to how deplorable their idolatrous practices were at the time.
Ezekiel 23:37b-39– “They committed adultery with their idols; they even sacrificed their children, whom they bore to me, as food for them. They have also done this to me: At that same time they defiled my sanctuary and desecrated my Sabbaths. On the very day they sacrificed their children to their idols, they entered my sanctuary and desecrated it. That is what they did in my house.”
Israel forgot the LORD and thrust Him behind their backs, and it was not time for them to bear the consequences. (Read Ezekiel 23:35).
Like a prostitute, they will be stoned, and their sons slain (23:45-49).
Ezekiel 23:45-49– “But righteous men will sentence them to the punishment of women who commit adultery and shed blood, because they are adulterous and blood is on their hands. ‘This is what the Sovereign LORD says: Bring a mob against them and give them over to terror and plunder. The mob will stone them and cut them down with their swords; they will kill their sons and daughters and burn down their houses. So I will put an end to lewdness in the land, that all women may take warning and not imitate you. You will suffer the penalty for your lewdness and bear the consequences of your sins of idolatry. Then you will know that I am the Sovereign LORD.”
Ezekiel’s final message of judgment upon Israel (24)
Delivered on the very day the king of Babylon approached Jerusalem to destroy the city.
Ezekiel 24:1- “In the ninth year, in the tenth month on the tenth day, the word of the LORD came to me: ‘Son of man, record this date, this very date, because the king of Babylon has laid siege to Jerusalem this very day.”
Parable: a boiling pot into which choice meat is placed (24:1-14)
“Tell this rebellious house a parable and say to them: This is what the Sovereign LORD says: ‘Put on the cooking pot; put it on and pour water into it. Put into it the pieces of meat, all the choice pieces–the leg and the shoulder. Fill it with the best of these bones; take the pick of the flock. Pile wood beneath it for the bones; bring it to a boil and cook the bones in it’” (Ezekiel 24:3-5).
The cooking pot=Jerusalem.
The fire= the siege and destruction of Jerusalem.
The choice meat= the leadership of the city.
The explanation of this parable is given in two different sections. The first section is verses 6-8 and the second verses 9-13. The first section treats the punishment of the leadership of Jerusalem and the second, the punishment of the city itself.
The leadership of Jerusalem will be removed by death or exile.
Ezekiel 24:6– “For this is what the Sovereign LORD says: ‘Woe to the city of bloodshed, to the pot now encrusted, whose deposit will not go away. Empty it piece by piece without casting lots for them.”
The rusty deposits on the pot represent the impurities in Jerusalem caused by violence and bloodshed. As we noted before in Ezekiel 22, the ones held most responsible for the violence and bloodshed in Jerusalem are the leaders. Notice in the parable Ezekiel told, it is the choice pieces of meat that are to be thrown into the pot, representative of the leadership.
What would happen to the leadership of Jerusalem because of their bloodshed? They would all be removed without exception by death or exile. “Empty it piece by piece without casting lots for them” (24:6). All of the rich, influential leaders of Jerusalem, both religious and political, would be brought out, without exception. There would be no casting of lots to determine who would go from the city and who would stay–all would be removed.
It was Babylon’s practice to take away the rich and influential of a city, and to leave the common people behind. In this third deportation from Babylon, this is exactly what happened. The leaders were all removed from Jerusalem and a man named Gedaliah was left as a puppet governor over the common people who were left behind. Those who had power and influence in Jerusalem, those who felt safe in the city and thought of her as a pot of security and protection from the threat of Babylon will all either be killed or dragged away into exile.
Why did the influential political and religious leaders of Jerusalem have to be removed? (Read Ezekiel 24:7-8) They shed innocent blood. They sinned in an open, defiant, and shameless manner leaving the blood they shed on the bare rocks. They didn’t even bother to hide their crimes. Figuratively, the blood spilt on the rocks was crying out, looking for vengeance. Because they had openly shed the blood of others, God will openly shed their blood on the bare rock and leave it uncovered.
It is not only the influential of Jerusalem who were affected by the siege of Babylon. The judgment would also encompass the city of Jerusalem itself. Jerusalem needed cleansing and purification.
Jerusalem will be cleansed, but not until God’s anger is fully manifested.
“Therefore this is what the Sovereign LORD says: ‘Woe to the city of bloodshed! I, too, will pile the wood high. So heap on the wood and kindle the fire. Cook the meat well, mixing in the spices; and let the bones be charred. Then set the empty pot on the coals till it becomes hot and its copper glows so its impurities may be melted and its deposit burned away. It has frustrated all efforts; its heavy deposit has not been removed, not even by fire. Now your impurity is lewdness. Because I tried to cleanse you but you would not be cleansed from your impurity, you will not be clean again until my wrath against you has subsided” (Ezekiel 24:9-13).
On the completion of the tense boiling and the removal of the contents, the empty pot is to be put on the hot coals till its copper glows so its impurities can be melted away and consumed. God will cleanse His Jerusalem, making it a holy city once again as opposed to being characterized as a city of bloodshed. God cleansed the city once before, but she was still unclean. Now the Lord’s fire of judgment will complete the work of purifying Jerusalem, but not till God’s wrath is fully manifested and allowed to subside.
The time for God to act in Judgment had come.
(Read Ezekiel 24:14) At this point, Judgment is unavoidable. The day of judgment has come. It is time for God to act. He will not hold back, nor have pity, nor relent. In God’s mercy, He withholds judgment as long as possible to enable people to repent, but He does not hold back judgment indefinitely. The time comes when His judgment has to be put into motion–this is one of those times.
Sign: the death of Ezekiel’s wife (Read 24:15-27).
Ezekiel is told by the LORD that the delight of his eyes, his beloved wife, is going to die suddenly. Ezekiel is given instructions by the Lord as to what he is to do after his wife is taken away from him in death.
Instruction not to lament her death (24:15-17)
Ezekiel is not to lament, or weep, or shed a tear. He is allowed to groan quietly, but he is not to mourn for the dead. He is to avoid all of the customs associated with morning.
On the day Ezekiel receives the instructions, he speaks with the people in the morning and that evening his wife dies. The next morning, he does exactly as God commanded him to do.
Explanation of the sign (24:18-24)
Ezekiel’s not mourning the death of his wife causes the people to take notice. They ask, “Won’t you tell us what these things have to do with us?” Ezekiel then explains how what happened to him and his response is a sign as to what would happen to the people and how they will respond. As the delight of Ezekiel’s eyes was taken from him, the delight of the people would be taken from them. The temple, the stronghold in which they took pride, the object of their affection, would be desecrated and destroyed. The sons and daughters of the exiles who were left behind in Jerusalem would fall by the sword. As Ezekiel did not mourn the death of his wife, the people would not mourn their losses either.
We are not told why exactly the people do not mourn their loss. We are told that just as Ezekiel groaned when his wife died, the people would groan amongst themselves because of their sins. One possibility as to the reason Judah did not mourn her losses is that she knew in her heart that she was receiving what was her’s due because of her sins. Just as a guilty criminal groans at the announcement of his sentence and recognizes he has received the judgment that was coming to him, so Judah would not mourn, recognizing there was no one to blame but themselves.
Another possibility as to why Judah wouldn’t mourn her loss is that the siege of Jerusalem would be so intense and horrific that the people would be left too numb and overwhelmed to mourn. Regardless of why they would not mourn, what is clear is that these were horrible times for the nation.
Sign of Ezekiel’s broken silence (24:25-27)
When the news of Jerusalem’s fall reached Ezekiel and the other exiles, Ezekiel’s mouth would be opened. Up to this point, Ezekiel was commanded to remain silent before fellow exiles except when God gave him a prophecy to pronounce to the people. This part-time silence would end when the prophecies he delivered were confirmed. The end of Ezekiel’s silence would serve as a sign that all that he had said was from the LORD.
What are the implications of this passage for our lives today?
Don’t take sin lightly and don’t follow the world’s lead when it mocks the concept of coming judgment. God is just. He cannot ignore the sinful conduct of His people. God’s patience and withholding of judgment will not last indefinitely. A time comes when God has to act in judgment. He judged Israel so that His people would know Whom they were dealing with, so they would know He is the LORD. Israel forgot God’s glory. They were living by the world’s standards and were just like the pagans around them. Consequently, they were judged. If we, like Israel, forget God’s glory and imitate the pagans around us, God is still just. He will severely discipline His people today when they live in sin. Never forget the LORD–Keep your focus on our holy, Sovereign, and just God.
Trust God, don’t cling to the things that pagans do. When Israel felt threatened, the nation clung to pagan nations and made alliances with them rather than trusting in God. It is easy for us to criticize Israel for clinging to foreign nations rather than leaning on the LORD. However, if we are honest, we have a similar problem. What kinds of things do we cling to and lean upon in place of trusting God?
Students: The temptation that is prevalent amongst teenagers is to cling to one’s relationships. A relationship with a boyfriend or a girlfriend might be one that is leading a young person in the wrong direction. This person feels security in this relationship and threatened at the thought of losing it. If you are in this situation, will you trust the LORD and do what He is leading you to do, or will you continue to cling to a bad relationship?
Young Adults: The temptation of young adults is to pursue our dreams and our ambitions with so much of our energies and our time that we neglect some of the things God asks us to do. What will we do? Will we cling to our dreams, giving little or no time for what God wants of us, or will we commit our ways to the LORD, and trust Him to establish His plans for our lives?
Middle Aged Adults: As we get older, we begin to realize how weak and vulnerable and out of control we really are. Our tendency is to try to cling to control rather than trusting God to take control of us. Let us not cling to our lives and try to control them. Let us trust God and allow Him to be in charge.
Older Adults: As we reach the autumn of our lives, the tendency is to worry about our 401 K and to spend a lot of energy making sure we will have enough for retirement. The other tendency is to cling to one’s dreams of an easy, relaxing retirement and to feel like its now someone else’s turn to do all the work. Instead of clinging to our money or our dreams, we need to seek first the kingdom and do God’s work, trusting God to meet our every need, trusting Him to help us press on in His service until He calls us home.
All of us: We all have a tendency to cling to conventional, cultural, generational, American ways of doing things rather than stepping out in faith into unchartered waters, trusting Him to lead us and provide for us. I think of the story of how God gave the Island in Schroon Lake, New York to Word of Life ministries. When Jack Wyrtzen contacted the realtor to find out the asking price of the Island, he was told $125,000. Keep in mind, the year was 1947. To this he replied, If we’re ever to have the island, then God must give it to us on a miracle basis.”
Any price would have had been too much as Word of Life had no money available. The ministry did not keep big reserves as Jack felt he would be embarrassed to meet the Lord if he had money in the bank instead of having invested it in the lives of people. Jack prayed about the matter and believed God was leading Word of Life to pursue the purchase of the property. He called the realtor and told the agent, “Word of Life, after much prayer, has decided to make an offer of $25,000 for the island.” At first the realtor refused to present the offer to the seller, thinking it was much too low. Jack found out the name of the owner and made the offer directly to her. Miss Clark accepted the $25,000 offer. Jack gave the realtor $1,000 to make a legal binder on the property. Even this $1,000 was borrowed. Where would the $25,000 come from for the purchase of the Island? Word of Life had only thirty days to come up with the money. God took care of that. He moved in the hearts of 47 supporters of the ministry who raised the money before the deadline.
This is not a conventional way of doing things. Praise the LORD that Jack did not cling to convention. Praise the LORD that Jack was willing to step out in faith and trust the LORD to provide for what He lead him to do. As a church, let’s be careful not to cling to conventional, cultural, generational, American ways of doing things. When we believe God is leading us in a direction, let us be faithful to trust God to provide for our needs just as Jack did.