Ezekiel 22, Sins of Jerusalem

We may think of Ezekiel as hard-nosed and angry, but in fact he is suffering with these pronouncements of judgment. This is why Yahweh asks him, “Son of man, will you judge Jerusalem?” This is where he lived and worked as a priest, where the temple of God resided, his beloved city. Could you judge your hometown?

1 The word of Yahweh came to me:

2 “Son of man, will you judge her? Will you judge this city of bloodshed? Then confront her with all her detestable practices 3 and say: ‘This is what the Sovereign Yahweh says: You city that brings on herself doom by shedding blood in her midst and defiles herself by making idols, 4 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. 5 Those who are near and those who are far away will mock you, you infamous city, full of turmoil. 

Yahweh begins making His case for judgment, listing the sins of this city of bloodshed:

• bloodshed – murder was rampant (perhaps including human sacrifice)
• idoltry

6 “‘See how each of the princes of Israel who are in you uses his power to shed blood. 7 In you they have treated father and mother with contempt; in you they have oppressed the foreigner and mistreated the fatherless and the widow. 8 You have despised my holy things and desecrated my Sabbaths. 9 In you are slanderers who are bent on shedding blood; in you are those who eat at the mountain shrines and commit lewd acts. 10 In you are those who dishonor their father’s bed; in you are those who violate women during their period, when they are ceremonially unclean. 11 In you one man commits a detestable offense with his neighbor’s wife, another shamefully defiles his daughter-in-law, and another violates his sister, his own father’s daughter. 12 In you are people who accept bribes to shed blood; you take interest and make a profit from the poor. You extort unjust gain from your neighbors. And you have forgotten me, declares the Sovereign Yahweh.

• murderous leaders
• mistreatment of parents
• mistreatment of immigrants
• mistreatment of widows and orphans
• sexual immorality and incest (sex during menstruation is no longer prohibited by law of Christ)
• murder for hire
• charging interest and profiting from the poor (Woe to you Title Max)
• extortion
• forgetting Yahweh, the cause of it all

13 “‘I will surely strike my hands together at the unjust gain you have made and at the blood you have shed in your midst. 14 Will your courage endure or your hands be strong in the day I deal with you? I Yahweh have spoken, and I will do it. 15 I will disperse you among the nations and scatter you through the countries; and I will put an end to your uncleanness. 16 When you have been defiled in the eyes of the nations, you will know that I am Yahweh.’”

Yahweh’s judgment will bring a final end to Israel’s uncleanness and lawlessness. Her defilement will lead to her purification.

17 Then the word of Yahweh came to me: 18 “Son of man, the people of Israel have become dross to me; all of them are the copper, tin, iron and lead left inside a furnace. They are but the dross of silver. 19 Therefore this is what the Sovereign Yahweh says: ‘Because you have all become dross, I will gather you into Jerusalem. 20 As silver, copper, iron, lead and tin are gathered into a furnace to be melted with a fiery blast, so will I gather you in my anger and my wrath and put you inside the city and melt you. 21 I will gather you and I will blow on you with my fiery wrath, and you will be melted inside her. 22 As silver is melted in a furnace, so you will be melted inside her, and you will know that I Yahweh have poured out my wrath on you.’”

A new metaphor for Israel’s uncleanness is the dross, the impurities of copper, tin, iron and lead in items of silver being melted out of the silver. God is melting out the impurities in Jerusalem in His wrath.

23 Again the word of Yahweh came to me: 24 “Son of man, say to the land, ‘You are a land that has not been cleansed or rained on in the day of wrath.’ 25 There is a conspiracy of her princes within her like a roaring lion tearing its prey; they devour people, take treasures and precious things and make many widows within her. 26 Her priests do violence to my law and profane my holy things; they do not distinguish between the holy and the common; they teach that there is no difference between the unclean and the clean; and they shut their eyes to the keeping of my Sabbaths, so that I am profaned among them. 27 Her officials within her are like wolves tearing their prey; they shed blood and kill people to make unjust gain. 28 Her prophets whitewash these deeds for them by false visions and lying divinations. They say, ‘This is what the Sovereign Yahweh says’—when Yahweh has not spoken. 29 The people of the land practice extortion and commit robbery; they oppress the poor and needy and mistreat the foreigner, denying them justice.

Prophets, priests and rulers abuse their power. The rulers take what is not theirs to enrich themselves. They are corrupt. And the priests don’t correctly teach the difference between the clean and unclean, fail to uphold Sabbath keeping (the Sabbaths are Yahweh’s Sabbaths, thus profaning Him). Prophets give lying prophecies to justify wrong doing. There is no justice.

30 “I looked for someone among them who would build up the wall and stand before me in the gap on behalf of the land so I would not have to destroy it, but I found no one. 31 So 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 Yahweh.” (Ezekiel 22)

As Yahweh looked for even ten righteous people in Sodom so as to spare it from destruction but found only Lot and his family, so there is no one in Jerusalem who will stand up in righteousness to all these malpractices. Judgment must be meted out.