Ezekiel 12-24

1. God’s motive for judging His people. It seems that at every turn the prophet reminded God’s people in the land of the Chaldeans that He was right for judging their idolatry—and would finish the destruction He had announced concerning Jerusalem
2. The obligation the exiles had to God for His grace on their lives. Ezekiel’s sermons were a word of mercy to the exiles; they were allowed to live—albeit under the rule of a foreign power—while many of their friends and family were not so blessed
3. The necessity of covenant loyalty—even for those who had been carried to the land of the Chaldeans. Ezekiel’s point for his immediate audience, to say nothing of how his sermons may have impacted those in Jerusalem, was that they forsake all idolatry and live unto God alone

1. Dramatized the Exile (ch 12). God’s will in the exile was to get the full attention of His people; once He scattered them among the nations, they would acknowledge Him as the LORD (vv. 15-16). Ezekiel’s symbolic acts of packing for exile (vv. 1-16), and eating with angst (vv. 17-20), served to illustrate for the exiles what would surely take place in Jerusalem—even though many false prophets had said otherwise (vv. 21-28)
2. Spoke truthfully about the false prophets (13.1-14.11). The LORD was against those who spoke falsely and had false visions—so much so that He declared: “They will not be present in the fellowship of My people or be recorded in the register of the house of Israel, and they will not enter the land of Israel. Then you will know that I am the Lord GOD” (13.9b). Their false message—also recognized by Jeremiah (6.14; 8.11)—was that the land would have “peace” (13.10) when the LORD had declared calamity. These prophets—many of whom were women—in essence killed those who should have been allowed to live and let live those who should have been killed (13.17-19); they didn’t know the LORD. Perhaps they were following the lead of the elders of the land—who had “set up idols in their hearts” (14.3). If these idolatrous ones came to a prophet to hear a word from the LORD—embracing syncretism—the LORD declared: “I will turn against that one and make him a sign and a proverb; I will cut him off from among My people. Then you will know that I am the LORD” (14.8)
3. Explained the LORD’s wrath upon the guilty (14.12-15.8). God’s judgment would be so exact against the idolatrous among His people that even if Noah, Daniel, and Job were in the land when the LORD sent famine, wild beasts, foreign invaders, or a plague, they would deliver none besides themselves! Here the prophet spoke a word of encouragement to his immediate audience: as they saw exiles coming from Jerusalem to their station in the land of the Chaldeans, “they will bring you consolation when you see their conduct and actions, and you will know that it was not without cause that I have done what I did to it” (14.32). Just as the wood of a vine in a forest burns quickly as fuel for a raging fire, so the LORD would consume His people, “because they have acted unfaithfully” (15.8)
4. Told a parable of God’s adulterous wife (ch 16). With splendid literary skill the prophet detailed the LORD’s goodness to His people, adopting them as His own, caring for them, marrying them—only to watch them abandon Him for a life of idolatry. Beyond this, God’s adulterous wife even sacrificed the children she had born to the LORD (cf. 2 Kgs 16.3; 21.6). Israel’s continuous reliance on foreign nations, rather than the LORD, was like a prostitute opening herself to nameless men over and over again; these nameless men would be God’s instruments of wrath upon His adulterous wife (vv. 23-63)
5. Spoke of God’s retribution against sin (17.1-22.31). Ezekiel spoke the parable to describe the LORD’s sovereign plan concerning His people; after Nebuchadnezzar invaded Judah and placed Zedekiah on the throne (cf. 2 Ch 36.11-14), instead of submitting to God’s discipline, the king of Judah went to the Pharaoh of Egypt for help (ch 17). This was no less than rebellion against the LORD’s plan. Yet one day Ezekiel promised that the withered tree (i.e., God’s people) would thrive again (17.22-24). As Jeremiah had predicted (cf. Jer 31.29), the LORD was ready to emphasize to His own that His justice was perfect; each would be responsible for his own sin—or be rewarded for his righteousness (ch 18). The messages of judgment were not pleasant for Ezekiel, and he lamented the fall of Judah’s leaders (ch 19). When some of the elders of Israel approached Ezekiel to consult the LORD, the prophet reminded them of some significant historical lessons: God had been faithful to His people since the exodus, yet there had not been even one faithful generation since then (ch 20). Even these who sat in front of the prophet were guilty of idolatry, “making your children pass through the fire” (20.31); should the LORD respond to requests from such as these? Yet a day would come when Israel would turn from their idolatry and the sovereign LORD would gather them from the nations and rule over them in the land—and know that He is the LORD (20.38, 44). In the meantime though, God’s judgment would not fail to destroy His land and many of His people (chs 21-22)
6. Prophesied concerning the destruction of Judah and Jerusalem (chs 23-24). Israel and Judah were respectively referred to as Oholah, “her tent,” and Oholibah, “my tent is in her.” These pejorative titles accorded with the situation of each nation: Israel had set up high places, ‘tents,’ where she lusted after pagan idolatry and prostituted herself by relying on foreign resources (23.5-10). In an ironic turn of events, the LORD used these pagan nations against Israel and forced “Oholah” into exile. Jeremiah prophesied that Judah was more culpable because as a younger sister she didn’t learn from her older sister’s mistakes (cf. Jer 3.8-11). Ezekiel saw things the same way: “Now her sister Oholibah saw this, but she was even more depraved in her lust than Oholah, and made her promiscuous acts worse than those of her sister” (23.11). Judah had opened herself to the Assyrians (23.12), Babylonians (23.17), and Egyptians (23.21). Judah thus received the same form of punishment as Israel; “Therefore Oholibah, this is what the Lord GOD says: I am going to incite your lovers against you, those you turned away from in disgust” (23.22). The LORD’s logic was clear: “You have followed the path of your sister, so I will put her cup in your hand” (23.31). Thus, on the day that Nebuchadnezzar laid siege to Jerusalem (cf. 2 Kgs 25.1; while Zedekiah was yet on the throne), Ezekiel spoke the parable of a boiling pot to illustrate His desire to purify His people through the destruction of Jerusalem. To help the exiles in Babylon know that the LORD was in fact in control of the events back home in Judah, God took Ezekiel’s wife—an act that served to foreshadow of the destruction of Jerusalem. Just as Ezekiel loved his bride, the exiles loved the city of Jerusalem. Since Ezekiel was commanded not to lament his loss—even though his bride was not killed for a specific violation against God—the exiles had no basis for lamenting the loss of their beloved Jerusalem—because she was destroyed for her multitude of sins (24.15-27). 

1. In 18.20 Ezekiel described the righteous judgment of the LORD. The apostle Paul affirmed that God’s judgment is without partiality, but clarified that His judgment is according to the gospel, “through Jesus Christ” (Rom 2.16; cf. Acts 17.30-31). Ezekiel described the severity of God’s judgment from the lesser to the greater, saying that since a wicked nation could not be spared even if the likes of Noah, Daniel, and Job interceded for it, “How much worse will it be when I send My four devastating judgments against Jerusalem—sword, famine, dangerous animals, and plague—in order to wipe out both man and animal from it!” (14.21). The apostle John envisioned that the LORD would employ these same means—sword, famine, plague, and wild animals—to destroy those outside of Christ (Rev 6.8)
2. In John 15 Jesus employed the metaphor of a vineyard to describe the new era of salvation history. Ezekiel pictured Israel as a fruitless vine (ch 15); Jesus was the true vine, the unique source of spiritual fruit, and eternal life was found in Him
3. Ezek 20 is one of the chapters of the Old Testament that traces Israel’s history, and points forward to the new situation that would be inaugurated in the Messiah. The Sabbath command (cf. Ex 16.4ff; 20.8-11; Num 15.32-36; Dt 5.12-15) was designed to test Israel’s reliance on the LORD, and to witness to the nations that He is the provider for those who trust in Him. Even in the days of Ezekiel it was the fulcrum of righteousness. But in Rom 10.4 Paul wrote, “For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.” When Christ came He fulfilled the Sabbath (cf. Mt 12.1-7; Col 3.16-19; Gal 4.8-11). Ezek 20 provides an opportunity not only to analyze ‘righteousness’ through the lenses of redemptive history, but also how the people of God are to practice that righteousness by avoiding associations with the unrighteous. In Ezek 20.34, 41 the prophet spoke of a day when the LORD would gather the scattered from the nations, bring them to the Promised Land, demonstrate His holiness through them to the nations (cf. Dt 4.1-8). The apostle Paul echoed this theme when writing to the Corinthians—a congregation with too strong a worldly affinity. His concern was not that the Corinthians leave their place on the Achaian peninsula and return to Judea, but that they leave their affinity with the Roman Empire and return fully to the Lord Jesus Christ. After referring to Ezek 37.26, “Come out from among them and be separate,’ says the Lord; ‘do not touch any unclean thing, and I will welcome you’” (2 Cor 6.17), he went on to urge them: “Therefore dear friends, since we have such promises, we should wash ourselves clean from every impurity of the flesh and spirit, making our sanctification complete in the fear of the Lord” (2 Cor 7.1)

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