CLARITY EDITION · OLD TESTAMENT
Ezekiel 22
Chapter 22 of 48
Chapter Overview
What happens in Ezekiel 22
God lists the specific sins of Jerusalem, calling it a city of bloodshed. Every level of society is corrupt: leaders, priests, prophets, and common people. God looked for someone to stand in the gap and defend the city, but found no one.
Scripture
Ezekiel 22
The Bloody City
Study note
God told Ezekiel to judge 'the city of blood,' listing its sins in detail. The city's leaders used their power to shed blood. The people showed contempt for parents, oppressed foreigners, mistreated orphans and widows, despised holy things, broke the Sabbath, and engaged in sexual immorality. They took bribes and charged unfair interest. God concluded with the cutting words: 'You have forgotten me.'
1 The Lord spoke to me. Moreover the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
2 "Son of man, are you ready to pronounce judgment on this blood-soaked city? Confront it with every one of its disgusting sins." Now, thou son of man, wilt thou judge, wilt thou judge the bloody city? yea, thou shalt shew her all her abominations.
3 The Lord God says: "You are a city that seals its own doom by murdering within your walls. You have made yourself filthy by manufacturing idols." Then say thou, Thus saith the Lord GOD, The city sheddeth blood in the midst of it, that her time may come, and maketh idols against herself to defile herself.
4 "The blood you have spilled makes you guilty. The idols you have crafted make you unclean. You have accelerated your day of judgment. Your final hour has arrived. I will make you an object of ridicule for every nation and a laughingstock for every country." Thou art become guilty in thy blood that thou hast shed; and hast defiled thyself in thine idols which thou hast made; and thou hast caused thy days to draw near, and art come even unto thy years: therefore have I made thee a reproach unto the heathen, and a mocking to all countries.
5 "Nations near and far will mock you as a city of shame, drowning in chaos." Those that be near, and those that be far from thee, shall mock thee, which art infamous and much vexed.
6 "Look how every one of Israel's leaders living in you abuses their power to spill blood." Behold, the princes of Israel, every one were in thee to their power to shed blood.
7 "Inside your walls, people treat their own parents with scorn. They cheat foreigners and mistreat orphans and widows." In thee have they set light by father and mother: in the midst of thee have they dealt by oppression with the stranger: in thee have they vexed the fatherless and the widow.
8 "You have shown total disrespect for my holy things and trampled on my Sabbath days." Thou hast despised mine holy things, and hast profaned my sabbaths.
9 "You are full of people who spread lies that lead to murder. You have people who feast at pagan hilltop shrines and people who do shameful sexual things." In thee are men that carry tales to shed blood: and in thee they eat upon the mountains: in the midst of thee they commit lewdness.
10 "Among you are those who shame their father's marriage bed. Among you are those who force themselves on women during their monthly period." In thee have they discovered their fathers' nakedness: in thee have they humbled her that was set apart for pollution.
11 "One man commits a revolting sin with his neighbor's wife. Another shamefully violates his own daughter-in-law. Another assaults his own sister." And one hath committed abomination with his neighbour's wife; and another hath lewdly defiled his daughter in law; and another in thee hath humbled his sister, his father's daughter.
12 "Among you, people take bribes to commit murder. You charge interest and squeeze extra profit from others. You use violence to rob your neighbors. And you have completely forgotten about me, says the Lord God." In thee have they taken gifts to shed blood; thou hast taken usury and increase, and thou hast greedily gained of thy neighbours by extortion, and hast forgotten me, saith the Lord GOD.
God's Refining Fire
Study note
God said he would clap his hands in anger at Jerusalem's dishonest profits and bloodshed. He compared the people to impure metals that needed to be melted in a furnace. God would gather the people into Jerusalem like metal into a smelting furnace and melt them with the fire of his anger. But unlike real refining that produces pure metal, this judgment would only prove that the people were worthless dross with no silver in them.
13 "I am clapping my hands in outrage at your dishonest profits and the blood you have spilled in your midst." Behold, therefore I have smitten mine hand at thy dishonest gain which thou hast made, and at thy blood which hath been in the midst of thee.
14 "How brave will you feel on the day I confront you? How steady will your hands be? I, the Lord, have made my promise, and I will carry it out." Can thine heart endure, or can thine hands be strong, in the days that I shall deal with thee? I the LORD have spoken it, and will do it.
15 "I will scatter you among the nations and disperse you across foreign lands. I will purge your uncleanness from you." And I will scatter thee among the heathen, and disperse thee in the countries, and will consume thy filthiness out of thee.
16 "Your own behavior will bring you disgrace in the eyes of the nations. Then you will know that I am the Lord." And thou shalt take thine inheritance in thyself in the sight of the heathen, and thou shalt know that I am the LORD.
17 The Lord spoke to me. And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
18 "Son of man, the Israelites have become like leftover slag from a smelting furnace. They are the copper, tin, iron, and lead waste that gets thrown away. They have become completely worthless." Son of man, the house of Israel is to me become dross: all they are brass, and tin, and iron, and lead, in the midst of the furnace; they are even the dross of silver.
19 The Lord God says this. "You have all turned into worthless scrap metal. So I will pile you all inside Jerusalem." Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Because ye are all become dross, behold, therefore I will gather you into the midst of Jerusalem.
20 "Just as a metalworker gathers silver, copper, iron, lead, and tin into a furnace and fires up a blazing heat to melt them, I will gather you together in my fiery anger. I will melt you down." As they gather silver, and brass, and iron, and lead, and tin, into the midst of the furnace, to blow the fire upon it, to melt it; so will I gather you in mine anger and in my fury, and I will leave you there, and melt you.
21 "I will pile you up and blast you with the flames of my wrath, and you will melt right inside the city." Yea, I will gather you, and blow upon you in the fire of my wrath, and ye shall be melted in the midst thereof.
22 "Like silver melting in a furnace, you will melt inside Jerusalem. Then you will know that I, the Lord, have poured out my fury on you." As silver is melted in the midst of the furnace, so shall ye be melted in the midst thereof; and ye shall know that I the LORD have poured out my fury upon you.
No One to Stand in the Gap
Study note
God condemned every segment of society. The leaders were like roaring lions tearing their prey. The priests violated God's law and made no distinction between what was holy and what was common. The prophets covered up wrongdoing like whitewashing a wall. The officials were like wolves tearing apart their victims. The common people practiced extortion and robbery. God looked for just one person to stand in the gap and repair the wall of protection, but found no one. So he poured out his anger on them.
23 The Lord gave me another message. And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
24 "Son of man, tell the land: You are a place that has not been washed clean, that has received no rain during this time of anger." Son of man, say unto her, Thou art the land that is not cleansed, nor rained upon in the day of indignation.
25 "Your leaders have formed a conspiracy among themselves, like a roaring lion shredding its prey. They devour people, hoard treasure and valuables, and leave a trail of widows behind them." There is a conspiracy of her prophets in the midst thereof, like a roaring lion ravening the prey; they have devoured souls; they have taken the treasure and precious things; they have made her many widows in the midst thereof.
26 "Your priests violate my law and disrespect my holy things. They treat what is sacred the same as what is ordinary. They never teach anyone the difference between clean and unclean. They ignore my Sabbaths, and my name is dragged through the mud because of them." Her priests have violated my law, and have profaned mine holy things: they have put no difference between the holy and profane, neither have they shewed difference between the unclean and the clean, and have hid their eyes from my sabbaths, and I am profaned among them.
27 "Your city leaders are like wolves tearing into their prey. They kill and destroy lives just to fill their own pockets." Her princes in the midst thereof are like wolves ravening the prey, to shed blood, and to destroy souls, to get dishonest gain.
28 "Your prophets whitewash these crimes by delivering phony visions and fake predictions. They announce, 'The Lord God says,' when the Lord has said nothing at all." And her prophets have daubed them with untempered mortar, seeing vanity, and divining lies unto them, saying, Thus saith the Lord GOD, when the LORD hath not spoken.
29 "The common people practice extortion and theft. They trample the poor and needy and deny foreigners basic justice." The people of the land have used oppression, and exercised robbery, and have vexed the poor and needy: yea, they have oppressed the stranger wrongfully.
30 "I searched for a single person among them who would repair the wall and stand in the gap before me on behalf of the land, so I would not have to destroy it. But I could not find even one." And I sought for a man among them, that should make up the hedge, and stand in the gap before me for the land, that I should not destroy it: but I found none.
31 "So I poured out my anger on them. I consumed them with my blazing fury. I brought the full weight of their actions crashing down on their own heads, says the Lord God." Therefore have I poured out mine indignation upon them; I have consumed them with the fire of my wrath: their own way have I recompensed upon their heads, saith the Lord GOD.
Key Themes
Themes in Ezekiel 22
Catalogue of sinsCorruption at every levelNo one to stand in the gapSocial injustice
Apply This Today
Living Ezekiel 22
God looked for just one person to stand in the gap for the city, but found no one. This is a powerful call to be people of prayer and integrity in our communities. One faithful person can make a difference, and God is always looking for someone willing to stand up.
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