Ezekiel 22:23-31

C. The Corrupt Land 22:23-31

TRANSLATION

(23) And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, (24) Son of man, say to her: You are a land not cleansed, nor rained upon in the day of indignation. (25) There is a conspiracy of her prophets in her midst, like a roaring lion tearing the prey; they have devoured souls, they have taken treasure and precious things, they have multiplied her widows in the midst of her. (26) Her priests have done violence to My law, and have profaned My holy things; they have not distinguished between the holy and the common, nor have they taught the difference between the unclean and clean, and they have hidden their eyes from My sabbaths, and I am profaned among them. (27) Her princes in her midst are like wolves tearing the prey: to shed blood, and to destroy souls, in order to acquire illicit gain. (28) And her prophets have daubed for them with white plaster, seeing falsehood and divining lies to them, saying, Thus says the Lord GOD, when the LORD has not spoken. (29) The people of this land have engaged in oppression, and they have been involved in theft, and they have wronged the poor and needy, and have oppressed the stranger unlawfully. (30) And I sought for a man among them to build up the wall, and one to stand in the breach before Me for the land that I should not destroy it, but I found none. (31) Therefore have I poured out upon them My wrath, in the fire of My anger I have consumed them; their way I have placed upon their head (oracle of the Lord GOD).

COMMENTS

The land of Judah was defiled (a land not cleansed) and spiritually desolate (nor rained upon) at the time divine judgment was about to fall (Ezekiel 22:23). This condition existed primarily because of the actions of her national leaders.

The prophets had entered into a conspiracy, a solemn pact that they would predict only peace and security for the nation. Their loud oratory, like the roar of a lion, was only the prelude to national disaster. The character of these men was indicated by their greed. For treasure and precious things they would paint the future in the most optimistic hues. But the results of this kind of prognostication were disastrous. Lives would be lost and widows made numerous by the ruinous national policy which they encouraged (Ezekiel 22:25). Prophets were supposed to rebuke wicked men, expose national corruption and warn of impending disaster. But Judah's prophets had whitewashed the leadership and supported their dangerous international policy by proclaiming falsehood. They used pagan divination to conjure up some of their lies and boldly announced them with Thus says the Lord (Ezekiel 22:28; cf. Ezekiel 13:10).

The priests were not one whit better than the prophets. Instead of teaching the Law of God and exemplifying its contents, they had done violence to God's Law. They failed to teach it and violated its teaching. They profaned the holy things of God by not adhering to the regulations which served to underscore the sanctity of the Temple. They failed both in their private lives and in their public teaching to differentiate between holy and common, i.e., they allowed holy things to be used in profane ways (cf. Leviticus 10:10 f.). Likewise the Mosaic distinction between clean and unclean was ignored both as regards meat fit for food, and as regards the ritual purity of worshipers. They hid their eves from the sabbaths of God, i.e., they looked on indifferently as God's people desecrated those sacred days. By means of all the above named transgressions the priests had profaned, i.e., treated disrespectfully the Lord God (Ezekiel 22:26).

The princes, like fierce wolves, shed blood and destroyed lives so as to enrich themselves. Probably these men used legal machinery to achieve their ends (Ezekiel 22:27).

The people of the land, i.e., the wealthy landholders, had unlawfully resorted to robbery and oppression against the helpless element of society and the strangers who sojourned in the land (Ezekiel 22:29).

The population was thoroughly corrupt. God could find no moral leader to stand in the breach in the moral wall that protected Judah from judgment. Morality is like a wall that shields a people from divine wrath. But where that wall breaks down, judgment enters. Judah needed a national leader of the highest quality to use his influence for good to repair that broken wall; but none was available (Ezekiel 22:30). The moral collapse of a nation is inevitably followed by their physical destruction. So certain is the judgment that God uses the past tense to describe what would yet befall Judah. There was no escape!