Ezekiel 22:30

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. I SOUGHT FOR A MAN AMONG THEM, THAT SHOULD MAKE UP THE HEDGE - the wall (note, ). Image for leading the people to repentance. AND STAND IN THE GAP BEFORE ME FOR THE LAND - "the gap," i:e., the breach (). Image for interceding between the people and God (as Abraham did, ; and Moses, ; and Aaron, who stood between the dead and the living, and the plague was stayed, ). I found...

23-31 All orders and degrees of men had helped to fill the measure of the nation's guilt. The people that had any power abused it, and even the buyers and sellers find some way to oppress one another. It bodes ill to a people when judgments are breaking in upon them, and the spirit of prayer is restrained. Let all who fear God, unite to promote his truth and righteousness; as wicked men of every rank and profession plot together to run them down....

Verse Ezekiel 22:30. _I SOUGHT FOR A MAN_] I saw that there was a grievous breach made in the _moral state_ and _feeling_ of the people, and I sought for a man that would stand in the gap; that would faithfully exhort, reprove and counsel, with all long-suffering and doctrine. But none was to be found!...

The sixth word of judgment. The special sins of princes, priests, and people. Ezekiel 22:26 VIOLATED - Better as in margin; to offer “violence” to the Law is to misinterpret it. It was the special office of the priests to keep up the distinction between “holy” and “unholy,” “clean” and “unclean” Leviticus 10:10. Ezekiel 22:28 See the marginal reference note. Ezekiel 22:30 The land might be said to perish for the lack of such interpositions as saved their forefathers wh

EXPOSITION EZEKIEL 22:1, EZEKIEL 22:2 MOREOVER, etc. The word connects what follows with THE WORD OF THE LORD which began in Ezekiel 20:2. That connection is, indeed, sufficiently indicated by the recurrence of the formula, "Wilt thou judge?" (see note on Ezekiel 20:4). In obedience to the commands which that question implied, Ezekiel has once more to go through the catalogue of the sins of Judah and Jerusalem. It is not without significance that he applies the very epithet of BLOODY CITY (Hebrew, _city of bloods_

AND I SOUGHT FOR A MAN AMONG THEM,.... among the princes, priests, prophets, and people of the land, who acted the part as above described; for otherwise, no doubt, there were good people in the land, as Jeremiah, Baruch, and others, but not among these: THAT SHOULD MAKE UP THE HEDGE; that was broken down by the transgressions of the people, who exceeded all bounds of law and justice; one that would restrain them from sinning, and reform them, and set them a good example; one, as the Targum has it, "whose works were good;'' a good man, that would endeavour by his influence to stop the breaking in of sin, and the consequences of it: AND STAND IN THE GAP BEFORE ME FOR THE LAND, THAT I SHOULD NOT DESTROY IT; in the gap that sin had made, at which the Lord was entering as a man of war to destroy the transgressors; one that should present himself to the Lord on the behalf of the people; s...

Ezekiel 22:1; Ezekiel 23:1. Before the sharpened sword of justice and retribution does its dreadful work, the Lord uncovers the guilt and vileness of the city and lays bare the corruption of her prophets, priests, and princes, as well as of the people. The violence and abomination of Jerusalem are revealed in Ezekiel 22:1; the smelting furnace in Ezekiel 22:17 is the symbol of Jehovah's fiery indignation against Jerusalem and its inhabitants. The corruption of the prophets, priests, and princes is fully uncovered in the closing section of chapter 22 ...

MAN. Hebrew. _'ish._ App-14. I FOUND NONE. Compare Ezekiel 13:5, and Jeremiah 5:1....

All classes (Ezekiel 22:25) are alike corrupt; a man to stand in the breach in behalf of the people is looked for in vain, cf. Jeremiah 5:1. For "hedge" better FENCE, cf. on Ezekiel 13:5. A "man" here is not a man to intercede, but a man to interpose, to stem the tide of ruin and turn the fortunes of the people. The moral energies of the nation were wholly exhausted; it could no more put forth out of itself a saviour to retrieve its fortunes. Cf. Isaiah 59:16, "and he saw that there was no man, and wondered that there was none to interpose" (Isaiah 63:5

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...