Scripture Text: Ezekiel 22:1-24:27
Memory Verse: “”So I sought for a man among them who would make a wall, and stand in the gap before Me on behalf of the land, that I should not destroy it; but I found no one.” Ezekiel 22:30
Introduction:
Judah has committed social sins (injustice and violence against humanity), and sins directly against God. The sins against their fellow man have resulted in their “guilt,” and for this they are deserving of punishment. For their sins directly against God have resulted in their “defilement,” meaning they were unfit to appear in God’s presence. The combination of both signals the “doom” Judah has brought on itself. They had “come to the end of [their] years” (Ezekiel 22:4). The time for judgment was come.
The charges are levelled directly at the “princes of Israel,” which was often applied to the former kings of Judah. A continuing history of sin on the part of Judah’s leadership was a primary reason for the judgment to come. The kings were ultimately responsible to establish justice in the land, especially to protect the poor and weak (Psalm 72:1-4).
Most of the sins listed are from breaking the Holiness Code of Leviticus 18-20; 25. Sadly, they had “forgotten” the Lord. Deuteronomy 8:19 made the penalty for this clear: “Then it shall be, if you by any means forget the Lord your God, and follow other gods, and serve them and worship them, I testify against you this day that you shall surely perish.”
The ensuing judgment of God would be seen in opposite ways: judgment by scattering the exiles among the nations, and judgment by gathering Israel into Jerusalem for painful and complete destruction.
In this section, Ezekiel focuses on four final events: (1) the end of the city (Ezekiel 22, discussed above); (2) the end of the kingdom (Ezekiel 23); (3) the end of a delusion (Ezekiel 24:1-14); and (4) the end of a marriage (Ezekiel 24:15-27). The section is sadly climaxed by the death of Ezekiel’s own wife, which God used as yet another sign to His chosen people.
Studying the Word
Lesson Study
- How did God feel about the violent social injustices in Jerusalem? (Ezekiel 22:1-12)
- How was Judah worshiping God hypocritically? (Ezekiel 22:8)
- Explain how God’s people were debased, deceitful, and disappointing. (Ezekiel 22:23-31)
- What was the visual message that “Oholah’s” sins and judgment should have conveyed to her sister, “Oholibah?” (Ezekiel 23:1-13)
- How did “Oholibah” turn out spiritually? (Ezekiel 23:14-21)
- What four judgment oracles against Judah did Ezekiel share with the exiles? (Ezekiel 23:22-35)
- What delusion embraced by Judah (and the exiles) was exposed and dashed by the action sermon of the “boiling pot?” (Ezekiel 24:1-14)
- Explain how God used the death of Ezekiel’s own wife as an action message to the Jewish peoples? (Ezekiel 24:15-27)