MESSAGE OF JUDGMENT ON JERUSALEM
Ezekiel 22:1-31
King James Version (NIV)
22 Moreover the word
of the Lord came unto me, saying,
2 Now, thou son of man, wilt thou judge, wilt thou judge
the bloody city? yea, thou shalt shew her all her abominations.
3 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 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 Those that be near, and those that be far from thee,
shall mock thee, which art infamous and much vexed.
6 Behold, the princes of Israel, every one were in thee to
their power to shed blood.
7 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 Thou hast despised mine holy things, and hast profaned
my sabbaths.
9 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 In thee have they discovered their fathers' nakedness:
in thee have they humbled her that was set apart for pollution.
11 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 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.
13 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 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 And I will scatter thee among the heathen, and disperse
thee in the countries, and will consume thy filthiness out of thee.
16 And thou shalt take thine inheritance in thyself in the
sight of the heathen, and thou shalt know that I am the Lord.
17 And the word of the Lord came unto me, saying,
18 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 Therefore thus saith the Lord God; Because ye are all
become dross, behold, therefore I will gather you into the midst of Jerusalem.
20 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 Yea, I will gather you, and blow upon you in the fire
of my wrath, and ye shall be melted in the midst therof.
22 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.
23 And the word of the Lord came unto me, saying,
24 Son of man, say unto her, Thou art the land that is not
cleansed, nor rained upon in the day of indignation.
25 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 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 Her princes in the midst thereof are like wolves
ravening the prey, to shed blood, and to destroy souls, to get dishonest gain.
28 And her prophets have daubed them with untempered
morter, seeing vanity, and divining lies unto them, saying, Thus saith the Lord
God, when the Lord hath not spoken.
29 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 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 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. 22 Moreover the word of the
Lord came unto me, saying,
The text
says, "I sought for a man…that should…stand…before me for."
This clearly identifies this passage with intercession. No single phrase in
Scripture more accurately describes the work of an intercessor than the phrase
" stand…before me for."
The intercessor always comes
"before god" and "for" others.
Also significant is the
intercessor’s twofold responsibility. Not only would he "make up the hedge,"
which suggests he would restore a breach caused by an enemy, but also he would
"stand in the gap,"
or plug up that breach against that
enemy throughout the building process.
22:2 The bloody city: Jerusalem.
22:3 Two types of sins are
stressed: social injustice (expressed by the blood shed in her
midst) and idolatry
(the making of idols).
22:7 The stranger, the fatherless, and the widow are high on God’s social agenda.
22:8 My
Sabbaths: The Sabbath was given as
a sign to Israel (20:12), and its observance was considered as important as the
keeping of any of the laws (see Jer. 17:19-27).
22:18
Dross of silver: Jerusalem is
described as a furnace also in Is. 1:21-26 and Jer. 6: 27-30. The people are
depicted as the worthless residue left over in the smelting process after the
desired metal is extracted; nothing is left to be refined.
22:30 I
sought for a man: See Is. 59:16; 63:5. Probably not just any man, but
rather a king who would lead the people in righteousness.
STILL MORE
BACKGROUND TO COME…
Playwright Janet Irene Thomas
Founder/President/CEO
Bible
Stories Theatre of
Fine
& Performing Arts
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