Ezekiel Chapter 20
Thursday, 01/22/26 at 12:10
Solitary Man
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Eze 20:1 And it came to pass in the seventh year, in the fifth month, the tenth day of the month, that certain of the elders of Israel came to enquire of the LORD, and sat before me.
Everything from chapter 8 to 19 was received and spoken in the 6th year of the captivity of Jehoiakim, which corresponds to the 6th year of Zedekiah’s reign. Now Ezekiel gives us a new date that falls in the 7th year, or 590 BC. This is the 7th of 11 years of Zedekiah’s reign. The final siege began in the 9th year, 10th month, and would last for 1 and a half years, to the 11th year, 4th month. Thus this word was 2 years and 5 months before the start of the final siege of Jerusalem. The fact that the prophet felt led to give us another date may indicate that some time had passed between the last prophecy and this one. Thus, all the prophecies of chapter 8 through 19 may have occurred in a cluster of time, or at least without a great enough amount of time between any, that Ezekiel felt that he had to give a new date, but now he does. It is always a good thing for us who are viewing these in the future to have these landmarks to help orient us, and sometimes it helps in the interpretation also.
We do not know if these elders are the exiles already in Babylon, or emissaries sent by king Zedekiah to perhaps pay tribute to Nebuchadnezzar, and who would have stopped by to enquire of the prophet as to the course of action Judah should take. Should they continue to submit, or should they rebel? What was the mind of the Lord in this hour? Whoever they were, we will quickly see what God thinks of this delegation, and how he chooses to answer. Spoiler alert – they will not be too thrilled with what God has to say!
Eze 20:2 Then came the word of the LORD unto me, saying,
I hope you enjoyed the brevity of the last chapter because you can now say goodbye to terse chapters! We’ve had some long chapters of many verses, and that will become the rule rather than the exception going forward.
This chapter consists of 2 prophecies, one very long, one very short.
Continuing on the theme of the preference of Yahweh to use repetition, as I was inserting the Hebrew words and their meanings in the verses, it became very obvious that certain words were going to be hammered home as never before. Here is a list of the most common words in this chapter, the alternate meanings of those words, and the number of times they appear in this chapter. You can always scroll back to the top in case you wish to access the meaning of any of these words.
1. enquire (daw-rash – to tread or frequent, to seek or ask) – 4
2. judge (shaw-fat – pronounce sentence, condemn, contend) – 6
3. idols (ghil-lool – a log as an idol) – 8
4. fury (khay-maw – poisonous heat, furious wrath and rage) – 5
5. accomplish (kaw-law – end, finish, complete) – 4
6. polluted (khaw-lal – profane, break one’s word) – 8
7. statutes (khook-kaw – customs, manners, ordinances) – 6
8. judgments (mishpat – verdict, sentence, formal decree, the crime and the penalty) – 8
9. wrought (aw-saw – to do or make, executed, accomplish, hinder) – 7
There are several other words that are repeated, but as we read the text, we see the same theme hammered over and over again. When a nation has backslidden from the commandments of the Lord to such an extent as Judah had, their minds have been deeply corrupted. It will take many, many hammerings of the sober truth of God’s righteous wrath and judgments if one wants any hope of these things to penetrate those blinded minds.
We live in nations where the blindness and the brainwashing have taken root just as thickly. One or two sermons of judgment will not penetrate most minds. Somehow, we need to expose our lukewarm friends to these types of messages. Even then, it may take several helpings of the fiery word of the Lord to break through. Exactly how many lukewarm believers would be willing to sit under several sessions of rebuke such as this? This is why it is so crucial to turn around and repent just as soon as possible. The longer you wait, the less likely it is that you will ever desire to make your way back home to the real truth. Most will settle for whatever version of Jesus that makes them comfortable in their favorite sin.
Eze 20:3 Son of man, speak unto the elders of Israel, and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Are ye come to enquire (daw-rash – to tread or frequent, to seek or ask) of me? As I live, saith the Lord GOD, I will not be enquired (daw-rash) of by you.
God is outraged that these reprobates would even have the audacity to seek the word of the Lord. These are not equivalent to carnal Christians. These may not even be defined as backslidden. They may not even qualify as apostates. No, they may most closely resemble fake Christians. Remember Judah’s most recent history. 55 years of Manasseh and total apostasy, followed by 2 years of another apostate called Amon. Then we had the 31 year reign of Josiah. The bible said he began to seek the Lord in the 8th year of his reign, and in the 12th year he began to institute his sweeping reforms. Thus the nation may have experienced 19 years of a revival of outward righteousness in the governance and the laws of the land.
This was followed by 22 years of wickedness until the end. So knowing all of this, what are the odds these elders had ever feared God properly at any point in their life? Maybe they genuinely repented during the reign of Josiah. Maybe not. But the way God responds to them, at this moment in time he sees them as total reprobates. And reprobates have no business pretending that they care about the things of God. It is the hypocrisy that ignites the full wrath of God. How dare someone, who has no desire to actually obey anything God says, dare to inquire of Yahweh, as if he is a carnival attraction or a sideshow? This is not like going to a palm reader or a psychic. Seeking the word of the Lord is not for entertainment purposes only. To dare approach God in any form or fashion without a humble, penitent heart is asking for wrath and rage to be poured out upon you.
Yahweh basically says, get the hell out of my sight! I will not speak to you. This is a side of the Father that no preacher will reveal to his listeners. We always say that God is ever there, ready and willing to listen. Just try him out, see if he doesn’t respond. He will patiently wait for you to come to him whenever and however you want.
That is not true. To the ignorant pagan, perhaps. But to the wilfully backslidden believer, one who refuses to repent, who thinks that they can seek out the latest prophetic word, I can guarantee you that no true word will be given to you. In fact, it is most likely that God will lead the disobedient and the hypocrite to a false prophet, in whose mouth God has put a deceiving spirit. And God will ensure that you will embrace a lie, one that will seal your judgment. It is an insanely dangerous thing to dabble in the true gifts of the spirit when you are living in sin, or are not being totally honest with the God of the universe.
Eze 20:4 Wilt thou judge (shaw-fat – pronounce sentence, condemn, contend) them, son of man, wilt thou judge (shaw-fat) them? cause them to know the abominations (to-ay-baw – morally disgusting, an abhorrence, idolatrous) of their fathers:
Yahweh now decides to go on a rant. A 40 verse rant. You can almost feel the emotion that is building, building in Yahweh. He asks Ezekiel not once, but twice – will you judge them, will you judge them? In other words, I have bottled up my feelings towards these corrupt souls long enough. It is time they received both barrels. Ezekiel, I want to speak through you to them, face to face, and I am going to lay it on the line as I’ve rarely ever laid it out before.
When God says, will you judge them, the word shaw-fat means to pronounce sentence upon them. Not just make a righteous decision as to the goodness or wickedness of their actions, but I want you to communicate what sentence that those wicked actions have incurred. God is commanding Ezekiel to judge others. Our modern theology is so shallow. We see one New Testament verse that says to judge not, and that allows us to cowardly let the wicked do whatever they want without any challenge whatsoever. We can always find a verse to justify what our flesh wants to do. But the bible is full of judging between good and evil, and acting accordingly, as God acts. The only thing we aren’t allowed to do is take vengeance, as that is the sole domain of the Father. But we certainly are to judge all things. We are to judge every action of man. What we are forbidden to do is to judge anyone’s heart. But when it comes to the truly wicked, who have piled up a lifetime of continual evil, we don’t need to see into their hearts to know whom they really serve. We don’t have to wonder. Thus it was in this case. I am sure that Ezekiel knew, as well as God knew, that these so called elders were not there as humble petitioners of the Most High. No, they were hoping to hear something that would confirm whatever self willed, evil course of action that they had already pre decided. If they could not find it in Ezekiel’s words, they would brush them off (see verse 49), and move on to another, until they found someone who would tell them what they wanted to hear.
Yahweh says he wants these elders to know the morally disgusting idolatrous behaviors of their fathers. God wants them to see that he has observed a consistent pattern in Judah. He is not destroying the land on some sort of impulsive behavior. No, he wants them to know that these gross sins of idolatry have been going on for generations, and that these men are just the latest generation to continue down this path of open rebellion and defiance of God’s statutes and ordinances. These men are no different than their idolatrous ancestors.
And this is the most likely occurrence. If we have compromised and become lukewarm, chances are our children will be the same, only more so. Human nature always descends further into sin, unless a miraculous intervention of God takes place. If our children are far away from the Lord, did the departure from God start with you? Or maybe with your parents? Now don’t get me wrong, many children go astray who have had godly parents. But in a fallen nation such as Judah back then, and Canada today, this descent into total ruin did not happen overnight.
Eze 20:5 And say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; In the day when I chose Israel, and lifted up mine hand unto the seed of the house of Jacob, and made myself known unto them in the land of Egypt, when I lifted up mine hand unto them, saying, I am the LORD your God;
God can choose many events in history to make his point. He decides to go back to the most famous of all events, his deliverance of the Israelites from the bondage of Egypt. Note that God chose us, we did not choose him. Though Joshua asked the people to choose ye this day whom you were going to serve, that is always in response to God choosing us first. Without making himself real to us in some way, no man would choose God out of the blue, on his own.
God is said to have lifted up his hand to them. That is, he revealed himself with some of the most spectacular and memorable miracles in the history of mankind. Who does not know the parting of the Red Sea, or the 10 plagues?
Eze 20:6 In the day that I lifted up mine hand unto them, to bring them forth of the land of Egypt into a land that I had espied (searched out) for them, flowing with milk and honey, which is the glory (tseb-ee – prominence, splendour) of all lands:
The purpose was to set apart a people for himself. God had already picked out that part of the planet where he wanted them to have a permanent home.
I think I am not the only one that is surprised at how God loves to rave over the land of Israel. I have never been there, but viewing many travel films, all I see is mostly rock and desert! Of course, the Jews have done wonders in restoring many parts of the land, but compared to several places on the planet that contain such wondrous beauty, I confess that I find Israel not much to look at. But of course, God sees more than just the physical land. Who knows what it initially looked like, and we can only imagine what a restored Israel will be when Messiah returns. But Yahweh calls it the glory of all lands, so there it is. If that is the way he feels about it, then case closed!
Other scriptures that speak of this wondrous land:
Dan 11:16 But he that cometh against him shall do according to his own will, and none shall stand before him: and he shall stand in the glorious land, which by his hand shall be consumed.
Jos 23:14 And, behold, this day I am going the way of all the earth: and ye know in all your hearts and in all your souls, that not one thing hath failed of all the good things which the LORD your God spake concerning you; all are come to pass unto you, and not one thing hath failed thereof.
Jos 23:15 Therefore it shall come to pass, that as all good things are come upon you, which the LORD your God promised you; so shall the LORD bring upon you all evil things, until he have destroyed you from off this good land which the LORD your God hath given you.
God calls it a good land, a glorious land, so there it is. Obviously the evil spirits think so, as there is no natural explanation as to why, even thousands of years later in 2025, the whole world it seems, has gathered against Israel, and wants them exterminated, just because they occupy one of the tiniest slivers of land on the planet. The muslims have thousands and thousands more square miles, but the fact that Israel has this little bit of real estate continues to drive them insane with murderous rage. Imagine what torment these hundreds of millions of people have, who know no peace, know no rest, just because there are some Jews who live on this tiny strip of mostly desert land.
Kind of boggles the mind, does it not?
Eze 20:7 Then said I unto them, Cast ye away every man the abominations (shik-koots – filthy disgusting detestable idols) of his eyes, and defile not yourselves with the idols (ghil-lool – a log as an idol) of Egypt: I am the LORD your God.
God gave them the 10 commandments. The first 2 were clearly the most important. No idols of any kind.
Exo 20:3 Thou shalt have no other gods before me.
Exo 20:4 Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth:
Exo 20:5 Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me;
Exo 20:6 And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments.
No other gods. No images. Remember that a mixed multitude had also come along with the Israelites:
Exo 12:37 And the children of Israel journeyed from Rameses to Succoth, about six hundred thousand on foot that were men, beside children.
Exo 12:38 And a mixed multitude went up also with them; and flocks, and herds, even very much cattle.
I am sure many brought their Egyptian gods with them. But not only them. The Israelites had been living in Egypt for hundreds of years. Just by osmosis, they would have embraced and absorbed the worship of their host nation’s gods. Especially since their own religion was in its infancy. That is, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob had left them no formal religious rituals or practices. That would come after Moses led them out of Egypt, and Joshua led them into the promised land. Religious ritual comforts people, especially the poor. I am sure many Israelites would have embraced various aspects of Egyptian idol worship.
While we may not have the recorded words of a prophet commanding them to forsake all idols, we need nothing more than the story of the golden calf to understand that everyone was made aware of God’s hot displeasure over idolatry. After that incident especially, no one in Israel had any excuse. And combined with the releasing of the 10 commandments to them shortly after, they were all without excuse. There was no higher commandment than loving the Lord with all their heart, which meant absolutely no idols.
The modern church has lost the seriousness of the sin of idolatry because in our minds, idolatry is associated with statue building. As long as we don’t build a statue, we think we’re okay.
Nothing could be further from the truth. The New Testament is full of lessons on idolatry, but let’s just focus on one verse, that is so pertinent to our generation today:
Col 3:5 Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry:
Note the expansion of the definition of the sin of idolatry. Covetousness is idolatry. That is because you have placed your desire for some thing above your desire for God. Covetousness is usually associated with finances. Unless we are coveting someone’s wife, or their job, or their popularity, or their talents, the majority of the time we covet more money, and the things that money can buy. That is why all forms of the prosperity gospel must be violently thrown away from our life. The foundation of it is focusing on self. Getting some thing for you. Whether money, or healing, or a spouse, or a new job, it all emphasizes you, and how you can get God to help you.
Who cares about you! ‘You’ should be at the bottom of your list of priorities. God has to be number one, and number one with nothing else even remotely close. Coming in a distant second is your family. Following that is your brethren in the body. Then the rest of humanity. Somewhere down there is you yourself. But the prosperity gospel places you at the top of the list.
I remember when I was enmeshed in that heresy. All my thinking revolved around how I could increase my faith in order to get healed, or prospered, or a better ministry opportunity in my local church, etc. It was inconceivable to think that God was to be served regardless if he ever answered another prayer in one’s life, and/or took every physical thing away from me. No, service to God was placed in these narrow set of circumstances. Reality was not allowed to intrude into that box. If it did, it was ignored, shouted down, forgotten, or simply thrown out. Reality had no business in how we chose to interpret scripture. In fact, scripture itself had no place in our life regarding interpreting scripture. It was the word of faith leader’s way, or no way at all!
I could go on and on about this, but I won’t. What I want to make clear is, verses such as this are definitely relevant in the modern believer’s life. Do not think that you can escape the same mishpat, or verdict, on your life if your heart is focused on anything other than the living God.
The phrasing of the abomination of thine eyes is simply referring to the fact that what your heart longs for, your eyes will fasten upon. If you really love to lust, your eyes will fasten on those women with short skirts and tight blouses, and see through clothing. If you truly are addicted to the continual affirmations that social media brings via likes and subscribes, you will constantly cast your eyes onto your cell phone, continually checking if someone else has shared your latest post. You have become defiled with your choice to indulge in this lifestyle that has swept the planet. The question is: ‘Can you escape’?
Eze 20:8 But they rebelled (maw-raw – made bitter, disobeyed, provoked) against me, and would not hearken (shama – to hear with the intent of obedience) unto me: they did not every man cast away the abominations (shik-koots) of their eyes, neither did they forsake the idols (ghil-lool) of Egypt: then I said, I will pour out my fury (khay-maw – poisonous heat, furious wrath and rage) upon them, to accomplish (kaw-law – end, finish, complete) my anger (af – wrathful passion as smoke from the nostril) against them in the midst of the land of Egypt.
Remember Ezekiel is speaking these things right into the faces of these big shots! He’s not quietly writing these things out, to place on an obscure corner of the internet, like solitary man is doing. This man’s obedience takes some guts! He never even thinks of softening the language. He simply obeys God, and lets the chips fall where they may.
God demanded they forsake idols. But they chose to rebel. They refused to shama. They refused to stop gazing at idols, because their hearts were still back in Egypt. Never mind the bondage, the beatings, the cruel oppressions. All they could think of were the few comforts that they had left behind. Freedom did not matter as much as one good meal!
Num 11:4 And the mixt multitude that was among them fell a lusting: and the children of Israel also wept again, and said, Who shall give us flesh to eat?
Num 11:5 We remember the fish, which we did eat in Egypt freely; the cucumbers, and the melons, and the leeks, and the onions, and the garlick:
Num 11:6 But now our soul is dried away: there is nothing at all, beside this manna, before our eyes.
Allow the fake Christian into your congregation, allow the lukewarm and the backslider to remain without confronting their sin, and you are setting yourself up for a rebellion. Where is the garlic? What is freedom worth if we can’t have some garlic right now! These are the worthless thoughts of the believer who has not even taken the first step on the road of self denial, and the crucifixion of fleshly desires.
God looks at their continual focus on the immediate, and their forgetfulness of being delivered from hundreds of years of bondage, and he can’t help it, he gets very angry. He performs the greatest miracles in human history, and all he gets are a bunch of whiners who want their garlic!
Before we laugh too hard, maybe we should take a quick inventory of ourselves. What makes us ungrateful? An unexpected repair bill? A pastor whose sermon went 10 minutes longer than usual? A spouse who forgot to take out the trash? A new ache or pain that depresses us, because we haven’t felt 100% in quite a while? How about a friend who we’ve caught gossiping about us? Is that enough to make us doubt the goodness of God and the reality of the importance of the body of Christ? God has delivered us all from an eternity of hell fire. So he has not healed you. So he has not yet saved your husband. So you lost that job. So you got evicted from your home. All that beats hell, does it not?
Eze 20:9 But I wrought (aw-saw – to do or make, executed, accomplished, hinder) for my name’s sake, that it should not be polluted (khaw-lal – profane, break one’s word) before the heathen (goy – gentile), among whom they were, in whose sight I made myself known unto them, in bringing them forth out of the land of Egypt.
We have left God in an apoplectic state. He has chosen to destroy these ingrates.
Before I go on, a thought just struck me, and I want to commit it to paper before it is lost.
Many of you may be wondering if this solitary man has gone way off the deep end in speaking about the severity of God. After all, the mere fact that the western nations are still standing, even after the commission of an unfathomable number of gross sins, is testament to the grace and mercy of God. Well, God has asked me to write about his judgments. Most of the books I am looking at are the judgment books. Almost all believers have no knowledge of these things. Let us look what Paul said about this:
Rom_11:22 Behold therefore the goodness and severity of God: on them which fell, severity; but toward thee, goodness, if thou continue in his goodness: otherwise thou also shalt be cut off.
Goodness and severity. Yin and yang. Light and dark. Two sides of the same coin. While the average Christian has wallowed in the doctrine of the goodness of God all their lives, few have even taken a peek onto the other side of the coin – the severity of this same God.
I am here to rectify that imbalance.
My suggestion is to take equal parts solitary man and your current diet of the promises and blessings of God, and throw them into the pot and mix to your desired taste. I do hope though, that you never skimp on the severity ingredient, because understanding that severity is the only way that you will find true safety and security for your eternal soul!
Now back to our regularly scheduled programming.
The word ‘wrought’ is a strange choice of words. It is used several times in this chapter, and the main meaning of the word is to do, or to work, or to accomplish. In each case, God is speaking of destroying his rebellious people. Then it says he wrought for his name’s sake. We must understand that what this means is that God wrought, or undertook to complete the work of deliverance from Egypt, despite being tempted to abandon the enterprise and simply blow off some steam and wipe these disobedient idol worshippers and grumblers and complainers off the planet. Thus the ‘wrought’ does not refer to the preceding phrase of God’s desire to kill Hebrews, but to the original intent to complete the work of salvation for these same Hebrews, because he had already declared to the Egyptians that this is what he was going to do, regardless of what Pharaoh would try to do to stop him. Keep this explanation in mind when we encounter this same phraseology later in the chapter, as I won’t explain this again.
Moses loved to remind God that it was not a good idea to destroy these rebellious Israelites at the drop of a hat, because your reputation will take a hit in front of all those pagan nations that are watching you. Why let your ‘rep’ take a hit, just because a few ungrateful wretches are trying to stir up a bit of trouble?
Exo_7:5 And the Egyptians shall know that I am the LORD, when I stretch forth mine hand upon Egypt, and bring out the children of Israel from among them.
Exo_32:12 Wherefore should the Egyptians speak, and say, For mischief did he bring them out, to slay them in the mountains, and to consume them from the face of the earth? Turn from thy fierce wrath, and repent of this evil against thy people.
Num_14:13 And Moses said unto the LORD, Then the Egyptians shall hear it, (for thou broughtest up this people in thy might from among them;)
I suppose this is where the stereotype of the wily Jew comes to fore (and also when Abraham was bargaining with God over Sodom) as being a shrewd negotiator! It almost seems comical that Moses is appealing to God’s pride and reputation. As if God should be concerned about what the heathen think!
And yet, the bible indicates that he was. Not because he was petty and prideful, like sinful men, but because he was trying to reveal himself to all mankind for all ages to come. Why should these blind heathen Egyptians draw the wrong conclusion as to what I really did? Why should I allow the devil to publish some ‘fake news’ about me? No, I will restrain my anger this time. I will not destroy these ingrates (though I have every legal right to) at this time. I have my name and my reputation to think of. I said to Pharaoh to let my people go, and I will not profane or pollute myself in the eyes of the goyim, or gentiles. My people lived among the goy, and I revealed my power and my glory in the midst of them. It would sort of cancel the whole effect, should I turn around and quickly annihilate them.
Rom 9:17 For the scripture saith unto Pharaoh, Even for this same purpose have I raised thee up, that I might shew my power in thee, and that my name might be declared throughout all the earth.
Paul spoke of this very thing. God had a purpose in raising up Pharaoh, and doing what he did in his midst.
Did you notice that God did not stay his hand because of his great love, mercy, or compassion towards the Israelites? That was not spoken of as having anything to do with it. Scripture says that he delayed judgment only to preserve his holiness and his name. Something to keep in mind when you begin thinking that God simply loves me too much to punish me, or even worse, forsake me, if I forsake him. If you ever find yourself thinking along those lines, get out your measuring cup and pour yourself a generous helping of severity, and cut back on the goodness!
Eze 20:10 Wherefore I caused them to go forth out of the land of Egypt, and brought them into the wilderness (desert).
So in order to preserve my name and to keep my word of deliverance, so that the heathen will not believe that I am capricious, or unable to deliver, I chose not to kill you. Instead, I kept my word in that I brought you out of Egypt and led you into the wilderness.
Eze 20:11 And I gave them my statutes (khook-kaw – customs, manners, ordinances), and shewed them my judgments (mishpat – verdict, sentence, formal decree, the crime and the penalty), which if a man do, he shall even live (khaw-yaw – be preserved alive) in them.
Shortly after entering the wilderness, God gave them the 10 commandments. He also gave Moses many other laws, but I think the 10 commandments are mostly in view here. Remember that most of the other commandments, such as all the temple ritual, and the civil law, could not be enacted until they were secure in the promised land, and the tabernacle was set in its proper, permanent place.
Now, all the fundamentalists will tie themselves into pretzels trying to explain away verses such as this. Maybe by works people were saved in olden days, but now it is grace, grace, and more grace.
Well, hold your horses there, Mr. zealous theologian! It is not all that hard to reconcile faith and grace, with statements that speak of obvious truths, such as this. Paul and James do an admirable job of explaining the role of faith and works in a believer’s life. We are not interested in that argument here. Suffice it to say, God was not interested in teaching theology when he was giving a prophetic word. Especially a prophetic word of judgment and imminent doom. He wanted shoob, more shoob, and nothing but shoob. He had no interest in engaging in a theological deliberation. Either repent, or suffer the consequences. Either repent, or die.
Moses most eloquently expanded upon what it meant to be preserved when one followed the Torah, or the commands of the Lord:
Deu 30:15 See, I have set before thee this day life and good, and death and evil;
Deu 30:16 In that I command thee this day to love the LORD thy God, to walk in his ways, and to keep his commandments and his statutes and his judgments, that thou mayest live and multiply: and the LORD thy God shall bless thee in the land whither thou goest to possess it.
Deu 30:17 But if thine heart turn away, so that thou wilt not hear, but shalt be drawn away, and worship other gods, and serve them;
Deu 30:18 I denounce unto you this day, that ye shall surely perish, and that ye shall not prolong your days upon the land, whither thou passest over Jordan to go to possess it.
Deu 30:19 I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live:
Deu 30:20 That thou mayest love the LORD thy God, and that thou mayest obey his voice, and that thou mayest cleave unto him: for he is thy life, and the length of thy days: that thou mayest dwell in the land which the LORD sware unto thy fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them.
How do you guarantee life, even life eternal? Love God. Walk like he walks. Keep his commandments, all of them. Don’t allow your heart to turn away. Don’t refuse to hear. Don’t be drawn away into sin. Don’t idolize anyone or anything above God. Love. Obey. Cleave.
Sounds like a call to total commitment, does it not? What is the difference between this sermon, and the one Jesus spoke, when he said that if you want to be his disciple, you must leave all behind, pick up your cross, and follow him?
Not much difference at all, is there?
And we think that the Christian message is so unique! In some ways yes, but in many ways, no. God has always asked for and demanded a whole hearted commitment to follow him.
Eze 20:12 Moreover also I gave them my sabbaths (intermission), to be a sign (oth – signal, beacon, monument, omen, mark) between me and them, that they might know that I am the LORD that sanctify (kaw-dash – pronounce or make clean, consecrate, dedicate, hallow, proclaim, purify) them.
Here we get to one of those doctrines that divide Christians today. While groups such as the Seventh Day Adventists in the past carried the doctrine of Sabbath keeping to extremes, even as the Hebrew Roots movement has done, there is a renewed interest and respect for the laws of the Sabbath.
And with a legitimate reason. It is one of the 10 commandments after all. While no reasonable Christian would argue that the other 9 are not applicable today, there is debate about this one law.
And that is because we generally follow the rule that the entire moral law of the Torah is binding on all believers, unless something in the New Testament clearly abrogates it. I think it is clear that Paul does not want believers divided over their personal convictions on the Sabbath:
Rom 14:4 Who art thou that judgest another man’s servant? to his own master he standeth or falleth. Yea, he shall be holden up: for God is able to make him stand.
Rom 14:5 One man esteemeth one day above another: another esteemeth every day alike. Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind.
Rom 14:6 He that regardeth the day, regardeth it unto the Lord; and he that regardeth not the day, to the Lord he doth not regard it. He that eateth, eateth to the Lord, for he giveth God thanks; and he that eateth not, to the Lord he eateth not, and giveth God thanks.
Seems pretty clear that we are commanded to extend each other grace in this area. I will not even get into the debate as to whether we are to keep the original Sabbath day of Saturday, or the new day of Sunday. Those kinds of things will not profit anyone.
Let each man be fully persuaded in his own mind.
What we do find in the prophetic works is a surprising number of verses that do call into question Israel’s disobedience in keeping the Sabbath. God considers this a non negotiable tenant of the law (as he considers all of his law, put he seems to place a particular emphasis on this one). How I explain this is that the Sabbath’s real purpose is as a sign between Yahweh and Israel. That is why Paul has no problem in teaching that it is non binding on the Gentiles:
Exo_31:13 Speak thou also unto the children of Israel, saying, Verily my sabbaths ye shall keep: for it is a sign between me and you throughout your generations; that ye may know that I am the LORD that doth sanctify you.
God did not say the Sabbath was a sign between him and all mankind, nor between him and his church.
Don’t get hung up on the Sabbath!
Now that that is out of the way, let’s study the Sabbath texts without anyone freaking out. In this verse in Ezekiel, God says essentially the same thing as in Ex 31:13. It was a sign, a token, a mark, a beacon between Yahweh and Israel. It was unique. It was to help them remember that they alone belonged to Yehovah. Every week they are to recall that Yehovah has separated this one tribe for himself, and set them apart in a special consecration that purified them from all other tribes.
Eze 20:13 But the house of Israel rebelled (maw-raw) against me in the wilderness: they walked not in my statutes (khook-kaw), and they despised (maw-as – spurned, abhor, loathed, cast away) my judgments (mishpat), which if a man do, he shall even live (khaw-yaw) in them; and my sabbaths they greatly (med-ode – with vehemence, speedily, with intensity) polluted (khaw-lal): then I said, I would pour out my fury (khay-maw) upon them in the wilderness, to consume (kaw-law – end, accomplish, make clean riddance) them.
Once again Yahweh speaks of Israel’s refusal to obey. They would not obey the law. God never accuses them of not believing, or not having enough faith. No, they chose not to do the works, which was to obey the laws of God. Since God could see into their hearts, and anyone could judge them by their actions, it became obvious that not only did they disobey, but they ended up despising mishpat, which was the verdicts, the decrees that God had spoken concerning the righteous punishments for sin. He reminded them once again that if they would only have obeyed, they would have lived.
Now God brings up the Sabbath breaking. They speedily profaned the Sabbath. Khaw-lal implies the breaking of one’s word. They had agreed to obey God, especially the 10 commandments. But they would not. Remember that no rabbinical additions to the law have yet been added. All they had to do was rest 1 day out of 7. We know of the story of the man gathering sticks on the Sabbath, who was subsequently killed for his wilful error. But they must have continually broken the spirit of this law, perhaps doing mundane tasks that could have waited, or simply not treating it as a day of serving the Lord, but of pursuing their own pleasures. Isaiah alludes to this:
Isa_58:13 If thou turn away thy foot from the sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on my holy day; and call the sabbath a delight, the holy of the LORD, honourable; and shalt honour him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words:
Later on Ezekiel will speak about the connection between purity and the Sabbath:
Eze_22:26 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.
So for the second time, God resisted the temptation to wipe these disobedient children out.
Eze 20:14 But I wrought (aw-saw – to do or make, executed) for my name’s sake, that it should not be polluted (khaw-lal) before the heathen (goy), in whose sight I brought them out.
(For the explanation of the use of the word wrought, see verse 9). So for the 2nd time, Yahweh wants it clearly understood that it was solely for his name’s sake that the Hebrews were not destroyed. He had told the heathen that he was going to deliver Israel out of bondage, and by golly, that is what he was going to do, regardless of how badly these Hebrews chose to behave during, and afterward.
Eze 20:15 Yet also I lifted up my hand unto them in the wilderness, that I would not bring them into the land which I had given them, flowing with milk and honey, which is the glory (tseb-ee) of all lands;
The story is familiar. The story of the 12 spies, 10 of whom gave an evil report.
Num 14:26 And the LORD spake unto Moses and unto Aaron, saying,
Num 14:27 How long shall I bear with this evil congregation, which murmur against me? I have heard the murmurings of the children of Israel, which they murmur against me.
Num 14:28 Say unto them, As truly as I live, saith the LORD, as ye have spoken in mine ears, so will I do to you:
Num 14:29 Your carcases shall fall in this wilderness; and all that were numbered of you, according to your whole number, from twenty years old and upward, which have murmured against me,
Num 14:30 Doubtless ye shall not come into the land, concerning which I sware to make you dwell therein, save Caleb the son of Jephunneh, and Joshua the son of Nun.
So God was able to keep his word to the Egyptians that he would deliver the Israelites out of their hand. He had delivered his people out of Egypt. He kept them alive for 40 years, to prove that he didn’t rescue them, just to quickly kill them himself. But, God’s mishpat always finds a way to ensure that justice is served. These rebels were saved, but now were lost. They were once saved, but certainly not always saved. No promised land, no heaven, for them who chose to rebel. The pattern could not be clearer. Those who say that they simply lost their rewards, but not their salvation, are grasping at straws. Good luck with that interpretation. Make it fit with the dozens of scriptures that speak otherwise.
Eze 20:16 Because they despised (maw-as) my judgments (mishpat), and walked not in my statutes (khook-kaw), but polluted (khaw-lal) my sabbaths: for their heart went after their idols (ghil-lool).
Yehovah will repeat himself over and over again about his own people’s continual rebellion, and his own restraint in dealing with them.
When you are engaging in casual sin, when you have become used to your lifestyle, you probably have convinced yourself that what you are doing is not really a big deal. Perhaps you like to go out and get mildly drunk on weekends. Maybe you have a smoking habit. Or the big one, you know you spend far too much time on social media. Because you’ve engaged in this behavior for a long time, and because your pastor never mentions these things from the pulpit anymore, and because all your Christian friends are doing it, you probably don’t even feel a check in your spirit. Because we have been taught to listen to our hearts, as that is where the Holy Spirit speaks to us, we think all is well.
But all is not well. You have deceived yourself. Because you refuse to study the word, and I mean really study it, not some 2 minute devotional that you read in the morning, your heart has become hard.
Do you know why replacement theology is so deadly? Beside the obvious fact that it enables Jew hatred, the current plague of our generation, it teaches that the church has replaced Israel. Thus, the Old Covenant and everything associated with it is neither important, nor relevant anymore. Thus, we don’t really need to read the Old Testament, save perhaps the poetical sections of Psalms and Proverbs.
This is a massively deadly deception. What do you think the New Testament is really all about? Is it a new bible, as most sort of imply, when they teach that the church has replaced Israel? I’ve got news for you. The New Testament is simply the last chapter in God’s book. It is written to identify the identity of the long awaited Messiah. It does not replace, nor redo, the teachings that have gone before. It may more perfectly explain some things, it may have added a few things, but it does not take the time to repeat what is already written. Thus, the moral laws, the lessons to be learned from Israel’s history – all of that is already there, and God expects us to become as familiar with it as any devout Jew of Ezekiel’s day. The New Testament is not a new bible. It is simply the final chapter in God’s plan of redemption. There is not the slightest reduction in our responsibility to study the so called Old Testament, just because Jesus has come and gone.
So when we find portions of scripture such as this, we need to think deeply as to why God chose to hammer on the same small sets of sins that he has. First of all, he says all their transgressions were caused by their eyes and their hearts going after idols (verse 7, 16, 24). Where is our heart today? What does your heart really desire? Where does your heart lead your eyes to look at? And vice versa? What you intentionally expose your eyes to, you will keep filling your heart with that thing. It works both ways. A good heart that is disciplined will control the eyes. If one’s heart is not where it should be, then choose to discipline the eyes to look at holy things, and your heart will eventually fill with holy things. Let one feed the other.
God then indicts them for not walking in his statutes and despising his judgments. This is a general all around indictment of their heart condition. Rotten hearts produce rotten fruit. While I am sure various individuals kept various laws of Torah here and there, the general consensus by Yehovah was that these were lawbreakers, plain and simple.
Despising God’s judgments is not agreeing with his sentences pronounced on sin and sinners. Yehovah outlined many very specific punishments for various sins. These were broken regularly from the outset. It seems that every generation of the people of God think that God’s verdicts are simply too harsh, or not practical. How can we kill every murderer? How can we kill every adulterer, every homosexual? 99% of western Christians would never vote for a law like that. Take official Catholic thinking in this area. Because they teach that all life is sacred, they are against abortion, which is right and good. But they are also against all forms of capital punishment, which is wicked and evil. In God’s eyes, this is called despising his judgments. And we can see what sort of judgment it brings on a nation. All we need to do is look around us. Letting the sexual deviant live has brought us to this place of total moral disintegration that we are in today. Western civilization is about to collapse. But we can comfort ourselves, since we have a ‘better’ sense of compassion and mercy than God!
This reminds me of an interview I saw recently. This AI (artificial intelligence) expert was sounding the warning as to how we are just a few years away from what he calls AI superintelligence. This is where AI becomes smarter than the combined knowledge of all humanity that ever lived. At that point, it is impossible to predict what happens next, but the odds are overwhelmingly not good for mankind.
While he had great knowledge about AI, when he started to speak about his personal belief system, he revealed himself to be the ignorant moron that he really was. He actually believed that he was not a real being, that he was simply some higher being’s digital simulation! He also could not believe in a god that would allow such suffering in this world, and if he was in charge, he would only allow bad people to experience what he called ‘discomfort’, but not the torture of children, or eternal hell fire. His judgments, in his mind, were far superior to Yahweh’s. While it was fascinating to see into the mind of a typical technocratic young person who was utterly godless, it was also very sad and quite alarming as these are the kinds of people who are creating AI without any real moral boundaries. All of our tech leaders despise Yahweh’s judgments, even as Judah was doing.
All of us can understand that the one sin Yahweh hammers is idolatry. If your heart does not completely belong to God, how can you serve him? But the other sin that Yahweh chooses to reiterate again and again is Sabbath keeping. Why is that? In our own minds, we would conclude that this is a relatively minor issue. How does doing a bit of work on Saturday compare to murder, oppressing the poor, shedding innocent blood, lying, cheating, stealing, etc? What is it about Sabbath breaking that has Yahweh so upset?
This is a perfect example where we must embrace the fact that God does not think like us. Our priorities are not his priorities. The first thing we must grasp is that sin against God is far worse than sin against our fellow man. That is why idolatry is always at the top of the list when it comes to the most serious sins. Idolatry is betraying your creator. You could not choose an action that shows greater contempt for the one who created you, and then redeemed you to boot. Knowing this provides us a clue as to why God is tied up in a knot over the Sabbath. He keeps telling us that it was meant as a sign between him and Israel. That is, it all has to do with proclaiming his name to all the earth. It is a vital part of his plan to make his name known to all mankind, to every generation. This is one of the main ways that he has chosen to reveal his name to men. Israel was to have this unique relationship with Yehovah. Every seven days, the world would be reminded of this relationship. And did not God accomplish his desire? Does not the entire planet operate on a seven day week? Sabbath keeping was not so much because God was concerned that his people got regular rest. That was not it at all. It was to be a regular reminder to Israel, and to everyone else, that God had sanctified Israel for himself. He had chosen them, and set them apart, and thus the rest of humanity would know to look to Israel for the right understanding of the one true God. So when Israel ignored the Sabbath, and behaved as any other nation, it was hiding the knowledge of God from the rest of mankind. And God was none too happy about that.
So the next time your Laodicean tainted pastor tells you for the upteenth time that you are the most important creature in the universe, just because Jesus died for you, think again. It would do well for your ego to remind yourself of what it actually says here in Ezekiel. Yahweh’s name, his reputation, supersedes his love for you. While Yehovah certainly loves us, let us remember that everything that he does is for his glory, whether creation, redemption, or anything else we can think of.
Eze 20:17 Nevertheless mine eye spared them from destroying (shaw-khath – ruin, cast off, spoil) them, neither did I make an end (kaw-law) of them in the wilderness.
Here God speaks in a manner that makes it crystal clear as to what he means. Instead of saying that he wrought for his name’s sake, which refers to the completion of the task of redemption, he now directly speaks about not destroying those people whom he redeemed. And it all had to do with preserving the story that he was weaving. This was his grand plan of redeeming mankind. It had many moving parts. There would be many acts and scenes in this play. He was not going to let the rebellions of this stubborn group of Hebrews ruin the tale that he was telling. He would deal with them in his own time, in his own way. But the show (or redemption) must go on!
Eze 20:18 But I said unto their children (bane – sons) in the wilderness, Walk ye not in the statutes (khoke – appointed times, commandments, customs) of your fathers, neither observe (shaw-mar – hedge about, guard, protect, take heed to) their judgments (mishpat), nor defile yourselves (taw-may – befoul, contaminate morally) with their idols (ghil-lool):
Yehovah now turns to the third instance of disobedience by that first group that came out of Egypt, that of the children of the adults. While the sin of the golden calf was what the adults would be remembered for, the sin covered here in Numbers would have most certainly involved this second generation, as this was at the end of their 40 year wilderness wanderings, and their parents would have been mostly dead, according to the word of the Lord for their numerous sins.
Num 25:1 And Israel abode in Shittim, and the people began to commit whoredom with the daughters of Moab.
Num 25:2 And they called the people unto the sacrifices of their gods: and the people did eat, and bowed down to their gods.
Num 25:3 And Israel joined himself unto Baalpeor: and the anger of the LORD was kindled against Israel.
While the first generation was barred entry into the promised land, despite this transgression, Yehovah did allow these to go and possess the land.
The point is, this second generation had seen their parents rebel 10 times in the wilderness, and had seen all the punishments that they suffered, many of them very shortly after the crime. They had watched them all die over the course of those 40 years. But that sin nature that was in them did not care. They had the same lusts and desires of their fathers, and according to God, they more or less walked in the same sinful customs, and chose the same unlawful conclusions as to how to live, what to punish, and what not to punish. But it is as if Yehovah could not kill everyone, otherwise he’d have no one to work with to fulfil his promise to get his people into the promised land. His name and his renown and his reputation were at stake. It was not as if any particular sinner would escape the rightful penalty for their sin, but God would work it out according to his wishes, as he had a promise to keep first.
So one generation was not allowed to finish their race and one did. But as chapter 18 taught us, as far as eternity goes, that does not matter. It does not matter if God chooses to punish us while we live, or waits until we die. When we die, all that deserve it will be punished to the fullest extent. This is why the cross is everything. Even if you thought you were a righteous man in Israel, you could never be sure that God saw you that way. But if you are in Christ, you have the full assurance of forgiveness for all sin. Everything is under the blood. As long as you decide to keep following him until the end, you have nothing to worry about.
Eze 20:19 I am the LORD your God; walk in my statutes (khook-kaw), and keep my judgments (mishpat), and do them;
God gave the same instructions to the second generation as he did the first.
Eze 20:20 And hallow (kaw-dash – keep holy, observe) my sabbaths; and they shall be a sign (oth) between me and you, that ye may know that I am the LORD your God.
He also reminded them of the importance of the Sabbath, as far as God was concerned. While we may judge certain sins to be no big deal, we should never lean on our own understanding:
Pro_3:5 Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.
Eze 20:21 Notwithstanding the children (bane) rebelled (maw-raw) against me: they walked not in my statutes (khook-kaw), neither kept my judgments (mishpat) to do (aw-saw) them, which if a man do (aw-saw), he shall even live in them; they polluted (khaw-lal) my sabbaths: then I said, I would pour out my fury (khay-maw) upon them, to accomplish (kaw-law) my anger (af) against them in the wilderness.
Sounds a bit like a broken record, does it not? The exact same thing occurred to this bunch as to the first. Maybe the punishment was carried out in a different way, but ultimately God judged justly.
Here is an example that someone could use to try and show a contradiction in the bible. Look at this verse:
Jos 24:31 And Israel served the LORD all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders that overlived Joshua, and which had known all the works of the LORD, that he had done for Israel.
At the end of Joshua’s life, it was said that Israel had served the Lord all the days of Joshua, and all the days of that first generation after him. The days of Joshua were the first generation in the promised land, which included this second generation of children that God is talking about here in Ezekiel. In Joshua, it is said they served the Lord. In Ezekiel, it is said they were idolaters. What gives?
It all depends on context. Here in Ezekiel, God is proving that in reality, every generation of his people, from the first and second generation onward, never really obeyed him as he commanded. With the incident of Numbers chapter 25, we saw proof of this second generation joining themselves to the idols of the land.
Now when we read the book of Joshua, God is focused in one topic – the conquest of Canaan, which is the fulfilment of his promise to redeem his people and plant them there. In that one area, they were fairly consistent in their obedience. That is, they obeyed Joshua, who obeyed the Lord.
This goes to show that the child of God should never become complacent, nor arrogant and self satisfied, just because you found yourself in a specific situation where God, or more likely your brethren, praised you for something you did well. Maybe if God was looking at another area of your life at the same time, you would be in line for a rebuke! Depending on context, you may be worthy of praise and rebuke at the same time!
Eze 20:22 Nevertheless I withdrew (shoob – to turn back, turn around, turn away) mine hand, and wrought (aw-saw) for my name’s sake, that it should not be polluted (khaw-lal) in the sight of the heathen (goy), in whose sight I brought them forth.
Here is a biblical example of God repenting. To shoob means to repent. God repented of wanting to kill them. He wanted to wrought for his name’s sake. No, that does not mean rot! He wanted to execute his plan of redemption of his chosen people, right to its ultimate conclusion by placing them in his chosen promised land. Since God had displayed his power to such an extent in Egypt, it would not do for him to suddenly change his mind, and destroy these people whom he had expended so many miracles upon. In effect, the deliverance from Egypt may be said to be primarily for the purpose of making his name known throughout the earth, even more than the simple compassion of wanting to set his people free. If compassion was the main driving force, then why did he allow multiple generations to pass in slavery before he acted?
Food for thought, isn’t it? Stop thinking that you are the center of the universe. God, and god alone, is the center. He did not want his reputation for keeping his word to be polluted in any way, because he decided to not completely save them. If he had decided that judgment of their sin should take precedence over his previous declaration, that he was going to deliver his people to safety, then that would have harmed his reputation in front of the entire planet. He wanted it known that what he says he will do, he will do.
Eze 20:23 I lifted up mine hand unto them also in the wilderness, that I would scatter them among the heathen (goy), and disperse them through the countries (eh-rets – earth, world, nations);
Why not allow Ellicott to give his thoughts on this verse:
I would scatter them among the heathen.—This threatening was not designed to be fulfilled in that immediate generation, as abundantly appears from Leviticus 26:33; Deuteronomy 4:27, Deut. 27:64, and the other passages in which it is given, especially Deuteronomy 29, 30. It was given to that generation as representing the nation, but was only to be carried out when, by a long course of obdurate sin, it should be shown to be imperatively required. The threat had now been already realised in part, and was on the eve of being fully accomplished. It was important that the people should be made to understand that this had been the Divine warning from the beginning, and that in its fulfilment they were only receiving that punishment which had always been designed for such sin as they had committed. [end]
There are several instances in the wilderness where Yahweh threatened to wipe everyone out. The nation of Israel should be really grateful that Moses was there time and time again to talk God out of it!
Eze 20:24 Because they had not executed (aw-saw) my judgments (mishpat), but had despised (maw-as) my statutes (khook-kaw), and had polluted (khaw-lal) my sabbaths, and their eyes were after their fathers’ idols (ghil-lool).
The same truth is repeated over and over. That indicates the importance of the things being said. It can also indicate that God knows that these dull, blinded, hardened people that he is speaking to are not going to shama this word. Maybe if he repeats himself several times, a few might hear.
Eze 20:25 Wherefore I gave them also statutes (khoke) that were not good, and judgments (mishpat) whereby they should not live;
Here is the great and terrifying truth of Romans chapter 1. Stay in sin long enough, and God himself will ensure that you stay in it forever. Here God wants to take the credit for what Israel chose to do in the next verse. They thought they were choosing to worship these false gods in the most despicable way imaginable all on their own. But in the inexplicable mysteries of God, his sovereignty manifests itself in the evil, as well as the good. You want your sin? Fine. Just continue in it until one day, you will find that all thoughts and desire for God will have permanently disappeared from your life. Homosexuals are the ones it happens to most often, being the extreme sexual deviants that they are. But commit yourself to your idols like the sodomite commits himself to his perversion, and you will find yourself in the same boat.
Isa 63:17 O LORD, why hast thou made us to err from thy ways (deh-rek), and hardened our heart from thy fear? Return (shoob) for thy servants’ sake, the tribes of thine inheritance.
We see that Isaiah speaks of the exact same thing. This bewildered soul wonders why God has caused them to remove far off from the correct deh-rek, or path of life. Why has God hardened our hearts, so that the fear of God cannot be found. Repent (shoob), oh Lord, for our sake, but also because we are your inheritance. The prophet laments the fact that for all intents and purposes, God’s people have lost their holy fear. He says that it is God that has done this.
Romans chapter one tells us why this occurs:
Rom 1:18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness;
Rom 1:19 Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath shewed it unto them.
Rom 1:20 For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse:
Rom 1:21 Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened.
Rom 1:22 Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools,
Rom 1:23 And changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and fourfooted beasts, and creeping things.
Rom 1:24 Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonour their own bodies between themselves:
Rom 1:25 Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen.
Rom 1:26 For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections: for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature:
Rom 1:27 And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompence of their error which was meet.
Rom 1:28 And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient;
Rom 1:29 Being filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity; whisperers,
Rom 1:30 Backbiters, haters of God, despiteful, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents,
Rom 1:31 Without understanding, covenantbreakers, without natural affection, implacable, unmerciful:
Rom 1:32 Who knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them.
Reject the fundamental truths of God, such as his being the sole hand in creation, and start worshipping something else, anything else, and you risk being given over into your sin. And that always leads to gross immorality. Why are all these bizarre and unprecedented sexual perversions occurring in our generation for the first time? Same sex marriage. More than two genders. An infinite number of genders. Genital mutilation. Transsexuals. Furries. Tampons in men’s bathrooms. Men in women’s sports. Men can have babies, can breastfeed, can have periods.
Never in the history of mankind have so many absurdities been adopted and embraced with utter seriousness, as if all these abominations are real things.
Do you know what this means? What is the practical ramification of all this? In the west, we have been given over to our sin as no other people have ever been given over. If we think the Romans in Paul’s day were given over to sin because of leaders such as Caligula and Nero, those were choir boys in filthiness compared to us. And the fact that all these insane ideas are now commonplace in our nations proves that we are all dead. We are dead to God, and God is dead to us. We have been given over, permanently and completely, to our sin, and destruction is assured.
This is why the book of Ezekiel is so critical for us today. It speaks of all the things that are found in a society when Yahweh decides to wipe them out. And we are most certainly there.
So what is it that caused God to give us over? Idolatry. We are all idolaters, as a nation goes. Never have we witnessed such a devotion to anything like we are witnessing to cell phones. We may have seen mass devotion at Nazi and Communist rallies in the past century, but those were forced upon the masses. Our current idolatry is completely voluntary. And the thing that few are aware of, the thing that few are talking about, is the new threat of AI. AI will make the programming and brainwashing by algorithms of the past seem like child’s play. I don’t think anyone shall be able to resist, unless they are in an extremely close relationship with the Lord. Do not be surprised at the terrible things that we will be facing in just a short period of time.
Because these people had decided to chart the course of their life in a manner that directly opposed the ways of Yehovah, God gave them the desire to follow khoke and mishpat that would guarantee their deaths.
Eze 20:26 And I polluted (taw-may) them in their own gifts (mat-taw-nah – sacrificial offering, present, bribe), in that they caused to pass through the fire all that openeth the womb (rakh-am – compassion, cherishing the fetus, tender love, mercy, pity), that I might make them desolate (shaw-mame – stun, stupefy, make destitute, lay waste), to the end that they might know that I am the LORD.
And what would those statutes look like? What sort of verdicts and decrees would they embrace in their own personal spiritual life? Why, child sacrifice, of course! The end game of every satanic form of worship is giving your children to satan. And Canada has become world champions in this blasphemy. We have zero abortion restrictions. In fact, I just viewed a recent video where a woman went undercover into various abortion centers, and in every case she was told she could have an abortion right up to the end of her pregnancy. While the mainstream media lies and says that abortion is not encouraged after a certain amount of weeks, one worker candidly confided to her that no restrictions have ever been practiced since the 1960’s!
And this is just for starters. Every province is still encouraging the covid jab at age 6 months, with regular boosters. Kindergarten means drag queen story hour. Elementary school means furries and homosexual predators, disguised as teachers, showing them pornographic material. This continues right through high school. Teachers telling children to explore another gender, and to hide the fact from their parents. Encouraging them to mutilate their bodies in irreversible sex change madness. Telling them that having children is a burden, and to abort as often as you need to. Preaching about toxic masculinity, so that there are no more actual white males to grow up in the land. Ensuring that any males are so ultra feminized that it would make no difference if they did or did not cut their penises off. For all intents and purposes, they are females already.
The word says that God gave us these statutes and judgments. That is, he inspired the wicked in our land to come up with these things. And here we’ve been blaming the devil all this time! He gets way too much credit. His job is simply to ensure that we have a smorgasbord of temptations to entice us, and then to keep fanning the flames of every abomination that God inspires the wicked to do.
It is important to look at the word rakh-am. All of their children were meant to be cherished. They were meant to be shown great compassion, tender love, mercy, and pity. Instead, they showed them the flames. They simply burned them up. The reason was that God wanted to judge them by depopulating them. So he put the idea into their heads to throw their babies into the fire, as an act of worship. An act of worship to a demon god, as proof of their devotion.
But once this sort of sin and judgment runs its course, God promises that all will know that he is the Lord. When these demon gods betray you, when those wicked rulers destroy you completely, when you have nothing left, and no one to turn to, there will come a day when you will suddenly wake up and wonder what you have done. Maybe for most this occurs in hell. I don’t know. But I do know that God speaks again and again that all these horrible things will I bring upon my very own people, to the end that they might know that I am the Lord.
The fact that God mentions this sin when he is still referring to those first Israelites whom he brought into the promised land may indicate that this practice was done in the incident at Baalpeor. Even if they simply dedicated their children to Moloch at this time by symbolically passing them to the fire, that would have still been a grievous abomination and betrayal by these people. But we will find proof later in this book that this watered down theory by some squeamish commentators is simply not so. They most certainly threw their children into the fire.
Imagine being part of the generation that witnessed the most spectacular miracles imaginable, and they were all done to assist you in escaping an impossible situation of total slavery. Then, in one short generation, you decide to take your children and dedicate them to Moloch instead of Yehovah? Can you begin to grasp the depth of betrayal and treason that is involved in this?
Eze 20:27 Therefore, son of man, speak unto the house of Israel, and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Yet in this your fathers have blasphemed (gaw-daf – to hack with words, revile) me, in that they have committed (maw-al – to cover up, act covertly or treacherously) a trespass (mah-al – treachery, falsehood, grievous sin) against me.
This fourth indictment may be thought of as encompassing the entire era of Israel’s occupation in the land of Canaan. That is, from Joshua’s conquest to Ezekiel’s day. Remember that God is still addressing these elders who came to enquire of the word of the Lord from Ezekiel’s lips. God is making the case that all of these elders’ ancestors were corrupt. From the time they left Egypt, throughout all the generations who have dwelt in the promised land, they have all let their hearts go astray in their idolatries.
I find it interesting that the word for blasphemy can also mean to hack with words. Does not our internet age make this sin all the more pervasive and egregious? Words are literally killing us. And they do this by sinning covertly, and by acting treacherously. In short, every known evil is being practiced, and evil just keeps doubling down each day we wake up, it seems.
In conclusion, Yahweh is saying that no matter where we look, no matter which generation that we choose to examine, you will find this gross betrayal in my people. They are always being drawn away by their idols. Something about serving other gods keeps appealing to their wicked souls.
Eze 20:28 For when I had brought them into the land, for the which I lifted up mine hand to give it to them, then they saw every high hill, and all the thick trees, and they offered (zaw-bakh – animal sacrifice) there their sacrifices (zeh-bakh – slaughter), and there they presented the provocation (kah-as – vexation, spite) of their offering (kor-bawn – brought to the altar, oblation): there also they made their sweet savour (ray-akh – odor), and poured out there their drink offerings (nek-sek – libation, also a cast idol or molten image).
It sounds as if very soon after God set them in this promised land, a promise that took many miracles to fulfil, their eyes were quickly drawn to all the places where the idols of Canaan abounded. Yahweh then uses the language of Leviticus to describe what his people decided to engage in. There was an offering called a zeh-bakh she-lem, or a peace offering (Lev 4:31). It was meant to reconcile the sinner to Yehovah. Instead, they were performing it for a demonic entity. Just how much more blasphemous can one get? They not only made sacrifices, but burned sweet odors to these idols, and poured out drink offerings as well. They seemed to have been whole hearted in their service to these Canaanite gods, whereas Yehovah found them sorely lacking in their whole hearted commitment to him.
Are we whole hearted to any idol in our life? Do we worship at the altar of social media every day? Are we perfectly faithful to log in every day, maybe even every hour? How about that all consuming career? Do you work nights and weekends, just because the boss asks you to do so? Maybe it’s that sports team. Do you never miss a game, regardless of the weather, family obligations, or anything else? But how many out there can say the same about their behavior towards the things of God?
Eze 20:29 Then I said unto them, What is the high place (baw-mah – elevation) whereunto ye go? And the name thereof is called Bamah (baw-maw unto this day.
God confronts these apostates by demanding to know what is the name of this place where you have decided to worship. You call it Bamah, which means high place. God asks if he had ever ordered then to go worship there. Pagans worshipped in many places. Yehovah demanded one place. Pagan gods are many. Yehovah is one.
Eze 20:30 Wherefore say unto the house of Israel, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Are ye polluted (taw-may) after the manner of your fathers? and commit ye whoredom (zaw-naw – commit adultery, fornication idolatrously) after their abominations (shik-koots)?
The obvious answer is yes. Yes, we are just like our fathers. But we’re still here to get the latest word anyway!
Eze 20:31 For when ye offer your gifts (mat-taw-maw), when ye make your sons (bane) to pass through the fire, ye pollute yourselves (taw-may) with all your idols (ghil-lool), even unto this day: and shall I be enquired (daw-rash) of by you, O house of Israel? As I live, saith the Lord GOD, I will not be enquired (daw-rash) of by you.
So in conclusion, you horrid apostates, you murderers of your own children, you are just as filthy as any of your ancestors that come to mind. So, now that we have unequivocally established this fact, do you actually dare to ask of me counsel? Do you dare to approach me for a word? Are you out of your frigging mind?
Eze 20:32 And that which cometh into your mind (ruach – wind, breath, spirit) shall not be at all (haw-yah haw-yah – exist exist), that ye say, We will be as the heathen (goy), as the families of the countries (eh-rets), to serve (worship) wood (trees) and stone.
You think you can chart your own course. You think, we can be just like the heathen all around us. Well God has news for them. He won’t allow it. Just because he allows some lost pagan tribes to continue for however long they continue, you are not to be treated like everyone else, in the fact that you have a far greater accountability to me than anyone else does. With more light, comes more duty.
Perhaps Israel had become tired of being mocked by everyone else for having only one God. Everyone looked down upon them as ‘God poor’. In the corrupt pagan’s mind, the more gods that you had, the richer you were. The better the chances of success and prosperity. By paying heed to the culture and the ways of the heathen, eventually the pressure would wear them down, and they would conform more and more, so that they wouldn’t stick out so much.
Eze 20:33 As I live, saith the Lord GOD, surely with a mighty hand, and with a stretched out arm, and with fury (khay-maw) poured out, will I rule (maw-lak – reign) over you:
No, you cannot have many gods. I am your one and only God. And you have indeed put the twig to your nose, as they would say at that time. In other words, you have certainly done an excellent job of stirring up my wrath. You want evidence that your God cares for you? I shall give you all the evidence that you need. You shall see that I have always taken a very close interest in your affairs. But since you have decided to turn your back to me to such an extent, prepare yourself for the consequences to come.
Eze 20:34 And I will bring you out from the people, and will gather you out of the countries (eh-rets) wherein ye are scattered, with a mighty hand, and with a stretched out arm, and with fury (khay-maw) poured out.
Looking at this verse carefully, this is not a positive promise. That is, this is not some regathering of the Jews in the end time. Because God is still acting in fury, he is saying that no matter where you flee to escape my wrath, I will hunt you down. I will gather you, in order to destroy you. Some think this may be a reference to God smiting the nations where they fled, but the context before and after does not support such an idea. No, this is a further promise of punishment.
I think one does not necessarily need to see this as God specifically pulling his people out of these heathen lands back to Israel. It may also mean that he will pull them out in judgment, and destroy them right there. We see several verses in Jeremiah, where the remnant that was left after Jerusalem was destroyed fled to Egypt, in further rebellion to the word of the Lord. God promised to deal with them there:
Jer 44:7 Therefore now thus saith the LORD, the God of hosts, the God of Israel; Wherefore commit ye this great evil against your souls, to cut off from you man and woman, child and suckling, out of Judah, to leave you none to remain;
Jer 44:8 In that ye provoke me unto wrath with the works of your hands, burning incense unto other gods in the land of Egypt, whither ye be gone to dwell, that ye might cut yourselves off, and that ye might be a curse and a reproach among all the nations of the earth?
Jer 44:9 Have ye forgotten the wickedness of your fathers, and the wickedness of the kings of Judah, and the wickedness of their wives, and your own wickedness, and the wickedness of your wives, which they have committed in the land of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem?
Jer 44:10 They are not humbled even unto this day, neither have they feared, nor walked in my law, nor in my statutes, that I set before you and before your fathers.
Jer 44:11 Therefore thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Behold, I will set my face against you for evil, and to cut off all Judah.
Jer 44:12 And I will take the remnant of Judah, that have set their faces to go into the land of Egypt to sojourn there, and they shall all be consumed, and fall in the land of Egypt; they shall even be consumed by the sword and by the famine: they shall die, from the least even unto the greatest, by the sword and by the famine: and they shall be an execration, and an astonishment, and a curse, and a reproach.
Jer 44:13 For I will punish them that dwell in the land of Egypt, as I have punished Jerusalem, by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence:
Jer 44:14 So that none of the remnant of Judah, which are gone into the land of Egypt to sojourn there, shall escape or remain, that they should return into the land of Judah, to the which they have a desire to return to dwell there: for none shall return but such as shall escape.
You may not agree that this precisely fulfills this prophecy, but I believe it fulfills the spirit of it, and it can be interpreted as God pulling out his people from the pagans that they are hiding within, in order to deal with them separately.
Eze 20:35 And I will bring you into the wilderness of the people (am – nations), and there will I plead (shaw-fat – judge, pronounce sentence) with you face to face.
Here, it seems, God is pulling them out somewhere. But we need to see the symbolism of the language being used. God has just completed a lengthy diatribe using the exodus story as his backdrop. Therefore, as Israel had to wander in a literal wilderness due to their sin, so, this time, God will make them to live in a wilderness of the people. That is, a wilderness of ‘am’ – or nations. God will exile them to Babylon for 70 years this time, a spiritual wilderness amongst the pagan, rather than a physical wilderness all alone. God will then use that time to drill down deep into these rebel’s hearts. There he will teach them all about his righteous judgments, so that they will know who it is that has done all these things to them.
Eze 20:36 Like as I pleaded (shaw-fat) with your fathers in the wilderness of the land of Egypt, so will I plead (shaw-fat) with you, saith the Lord GOD.
God tried to make the Exodus generation understand obedience and judgment. He tried to show them how to live, but they would not. He will try to do the same thing with this bunch, once he is done destroying their land, their city, and their temple.
Eze 20:37 And I will cause you to pass under the rod, and I will bring you into the bond (maw-so-reth – band, only time in OT, from a root meaning yoke or hitch) of the covenant (ber-eeth – to cut, to pass between pieces of flesh):
Under the rod – this is a figure taken from a shepherd’s way of counting and examining the flock. Some think it might have also referred to the rod of a king in passing sentence. Rods are also known for chastisement. This rod will divide and set apart some into a yoke, or bondservice of a covenant relationship.
We know this would not be the first time that God has to renew his covenant with his people. The patriarchs were known for cutting various covenants. I am sure this is a reference to the new covenant that was to be cut, at the cross, with Israel and Judah.
Eze 20:38 And I will purge out (baw-rar – clarify, select, choose, cleanse) from among you the rebels, and them that transgress (paw-shah – break away, trespass, apostatize) against me: I will bring them forth out of the country where they sojourn (lodge), and they shall not enter into the land of Israel: and ye shall know that I am the LORD.
This echoes this familiar passage:
Mat 25:31 When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory:
Mat 25:32 And before him shall be gathered all nations: and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats:
Mat 25:33 And he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left.
This rod is a rod of separation. Yahweh identifies the rebels, or those who never wanted to serve him in the first place. He also identifies a second group that transgresses, or apostasizes against him. One may quibble and say he is speaking of one specific group of people, but the fact he uses the word ‘and’ seems to indicate 2 distinct groups.
Yahweh reiterates that those who are not his sheep anymore will not be able to hide by trying to blend in with the pagans. I think there is a significant truth here. People in the Christian nations of the west will be singled out for special judgment, regardless of how far we have walked away from our Christian roots. For example, western Europe and Canada have militantly kicked God out of the public arena, to such an extent that it is almost dangerous to proclaim the truths of the bible in many places. But no matter. God saw that we had, at one time in our past, dedicated ourselves to God, and he will hold us to that, regardless of how far we stray. Think about the northern kingdom of Ephraim. They were birthed by Yahweh himself, even though they immediately fell into idolatry with Jeroboam’s golden calves. God still speaks of them in these prophecies of Ezekiel as if they were still his chosen people, despite being obliterated over 125 years ago. So too I believe that this is the case for the Christian nations of the west. God will hold us to the covenants that our forefathers made with him, when they dedicated their lands and their governorship under his hand. The point here is that, no matter where these goats went, God would not let them escape judgment. This verse teaches us that those who fall away and rebel, will not enter the promised land. As these rebels were barred from the land of Israel, so the rebellious believer will be barred from eternity with God.
Eze 20:39 As for you, O house of Israel, thus saith the Lord GOD; Go ye, serve ye every one his idols (ghil-lool), and hereafter also, if ye will not hearken (shama) unto me: but pollute (khaw-lal) ye my holy (ko-desh – sacred, hallowed) name no more with your gifts (mat-taw-naw), and with your idols (ghil-lool).
When Yehovah decides to speak like this, it is to those whom he is basically writing off. He has spoken and warned and pleaded and chastised and punished and judged, all to no avail. All that is left is to leave them alone.
Hos_4:17 Ephraim is joined to idols: let him alone.
With great mockery, perhaps tinged with a touch of bitterness (but not in a sinful way, of course!), Yehovah tells these non repenters to go ahead, continue doing what you’re doing. Why stop now? Not only now, but hereafter, that is, don’t stop in the future, because I am not going to give you another chance to come back to me. Just make sure that you don’t try to claim that you still serve me in any way anymore.
I believe Yehovah would say the same thing to countless churches today. Go ahead, plant your pride flag. Go ahead, set up your vax death jab clinic. Go ahead, build your mega church and preach that God wants you rich. Go ahead, preach that God’s laws concerning sex have changed. Go ahead and do all that, but please take my name off your building! Stop calling yourself Christian. Call yourself whatever the heck you want, but quit profaning my name with your aberrations and blasphemies.
Eze 20:40 For in mine holy (ko-desh) mountain, in the mountain of the height of Israel, saith the Lord GOD, there shall all the house of Israel, all of them in the land, serve me: there will I accept (raw-tsaw – be pleased with, to satisfy a debt, approve) them, and there will I require your offerings (ter-oo-maw – presents, gifts), and the firstfruits (ray-sheeth – first in place, time, order or rank, the principal thing) of your oblations (mas-ayth – raising, rising, present, tribute, gift), with all your holy things (ko-desh).
This will never be fulfilled until the Millenium. To have everyone faithfully worship Yehovah, well, that would take the literal return of the King! Note the hint that this new kingdom will include all men, as God speaks of all the house of Israel, plus all of them in the land. We Gentiles have been ‘grafted in’ to God’s house through Christ. All of us are there in God’s land to do one thing – to serve him. Not to simply be saved. Not to be blessed. Not so that we fulfill our destiny, or have all the desires of our heart met. No, we are redeemed for his service.
Until God separates all that offends out of his kingdom, there is no way that he will be pleased with what he sees. Until sin is purged out of the land, God will not cease to judge and to separate. So too with our bodies. Until all sin is purged out of our temple, God will continue to mould us, until we come to the fulness of the stature of Christ.
We might as well touch on this difficult topic right here and now. For those of us with a working knowledge of Ezekiel, we know that the last 9 chapters have baffled theologians right from the outset. No one has ever come up with a conclusive explanation for what it all means. I am speaking about the temple that is to be rebuilt. And no, it in no way matches the rebuilt temple the Jews labored on when they returned from Babylon, nor did it match the one expanded upon by Herod. This is some mysterious temple yet to come.
We must remember that Ezekiel is a priest. He has been denied his opportunity to serve at the temple, as he was exiled to Babylon before reaching the age of service. Instead, when he turned 30, God decided to switch his ministry to that of a prophet.
But this man is fully familiar with all the temple ritual. He would know about all the different types of offerings, as he would have studied them extensively before entering service. Thus God speaks about temple things through Ezekiel far, far more than through anyone else. I believe this is very intentional. God will speak in the language that we are familiar with. The language and imagery God uses differs between an educated man, such as Isaiah, versus a herdsman, such as Amos. But God always knows who to choose for the job at hand. Sometimes God needs a plumber. Other times he may need a priest. We must rest in the fact that we have been created to be fitly suited for the tasks that God will send our way.
So what are we to make of all this future temple type talk? Doesn’t Yahweh know that Jesus is up to bat, and that the animal sacrifices are supposed to be fulfilled and done away with in Christ? Why all this talk about Yahweh requiring your offerings, your firstfruits, your oblations, and all your holy things?
Some commentators get around this by spiritualizing all these things. As Christians, we give offerings, and many give firstfruits, in the form of tithes. While firstfruit offerings were not exactly tithes, they represented giving God the first of everything in your life, even as tithes represent the same idea – giving God the first tenth. Oblations may be other gifts to the Lord. All your holy things may be presenting your body as a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto the Lord.
While we may be able to get away with such an interpretation here, it will not work when we get to the end of the book! But let’s leave the end for the end. The problem here is that Yahweh is speaking of the service of God’s people in the land of Israel. That seems to put a ‘Millenialish’ flavor to it, does it not?
Eze 20:41 I will accept (raw-tsaw) you with your sweet savour (odor), when I bring you out from the people, and gather you out of the countries wherein ye have been scattered; and I will be sanctified (kaw-dash) in you before the heathen (goy).
While Yahweh would regather his people out of Babylon under Cyrus, that would be an initial fulfilment which would be once more partially fulfilled in the return to Israel in the 20th century and beyond.
Again, those regathered will be purged, refined and purified. They will have to have passed under the rod, so to speak, of God’s selection. Only the redeemed shall be accepted. That is why even the two examples cited above of the return of the Jews are but shadows of the true fulfilment in the Millennial kingdom.
The last part of the verse is why we cannot say this was fulfilled by the return of the Jews under Cyrus. There was no great awe inspiring moment in the eyes of the pagan when a few Jews returned to Jerusalem and began to rebuild the temple. In fact, the rebuilt temple was but a shadow of what was built under Solomon, and it caused many of the ancient ones to weep, though some shouted for joy that at least the temple was being rebuilt!
Ezr 3:12 But many of the priests and Levites and chief of the fathers, who were ancient men, that had seen the first house, when the foundation of this house was laid before their eyes, wept with a loud voice; and many shouted aloud for joy:
Ezr 3:13 So that the people could not discern the noise of the shout of joy from the noise of the weeping of the people: for the people shouted with a loud shout, and the noise was heard afar off.
We are only acceptable to God when he divides us from the lost and the wicked, and separates us from the pollutions of this world. Then, and only then, are we acceptable to him, a sweet smelling sacrifice, when we truly choose to follow Jesus. If we have been truly saved and transformed from within, that will cause the heathen to notice that our God is not like any other god. Our God has the power to change and transform us like no other.
Eze 20:42 And ye shall know that I am the LORD, when I shall bring you into the land of Israel, into the country for the which I lifted up mine hand to give it to your fathers.
As Yahweh would one day permanently bring the Jew back to his land, never to leave, so Christ has brought us out of the iron furnace of Egypt, never to return. There is so much emphasis made by God in wanting us to know that he is Yehovah. Everything that he does in this chapter, whether good or evil, is first and foremost meant for the revelation of himself to all men, but especially to his own. And therein is another crucial truth. The bible is not all about us. It is all about God. God is the center of all things, not man. God is the only one who is meant to receive glory. Even the story of our redemption is all about revealing who God is to us, and to all creation.
Eze 20:43 And there shall ye remember your ways (deh-rek – path or course of life), and all your doings (al-ee-law – exploits, deeds, inventions), wherein ye have been defiled (taw-may); and ye shall lothe yourselves (koot – cut off, detest) in your own sight (pawneem – the face) for all your evils (rah – misery, trouble, wretchedness, moral wrongness) that ye have committed.
We have become so spiritually dull to our own evil ways. We all seem to focus on nothing but supposed future revivals, on God’s love, and his willingness to answer all of our prayers. But if we have truly entered into that promised land of a real, intimate relationship with our Father through the Son, then we should have received a vivid revelation of our own wretchedness, and see ourselves as we truly are.
I think God is tired of hearing us go on and on about who we are in Christ, but who have not come to that full understanding of our absolute unworthiness that would lead us to embrace that true lifestyle change that prioritizes the pursuit of holiness above all else.
When God has truly brought you into his kingdom, you will never forget just how vile you really were. You will loathe yourself. You will not morph into a Copeland, who thinks that somehow it’s a good thing to boast that he has stolen over a billion dollars from the sheep, all for himself. No, you will never forget your misery, your wretchedness, your moral wrongness, your evil inventions, and you will detest that old man of sin that you once were. And if you find that you don’t really detest him, but still kind of look back and long for some of those ‘good times’ and ‘fun stuff’, then you might have just only taken your first step into the promised land. Don’t stop until both feet are firmly planted there, and you have burned your old passport that you carried in Egypt!
Eze 20:44 And ye shall know that I am the LORD, when I have wrought (aw-saw) with you for my name’s sake, not according to your wicked (rah) ways (deh-rek), nor according to your corrupt (shaw-khath) doings (al-ee-law), O ye house of Israel, saith the Lord GOD.
So these chosen few should be ecstatic that Yehovah has chosen to not judge them according to their wickedness. In other words, most of these backsliding souls had a sentence of death pronounced upon them. But God decided to touch the few that could still be touched with a spirit of shoob. They were still salvageable, and God salvaged them. That extraordinary act of grace will burst forth in revelatory understanding in the remnant’s heart, and they will be eternally grateful.
This passage makes me stop and think just how blessed I truly am. As I observe the citizens of my nation (and other nations) all around me, the average person is getting dumber, blinder, more godless, more biblically illiterate, more addicted, more immature, far more ignorant, and is finding themselves in a world that is entering into a level of danger that may be unique. That is, what if the predictions of those who understand AI come even partially true? Will we all be unemployed in 5 years? Will AI decide to get rid of us? Will the nations attack each other before that takes place? Will AI attack all of us in a preemptive strike? Already it is believed that it is impossible to shut AI off, even if we wanted to. And in the midst of all this, I have never suffered such a lack of true Christian fellowship. Simply put, aside from my wife, I have absolutely no one to share my faith with face to face. The number of truly biblical believers seems to be shrinking by the day.
I say all this to remind myself as to how grateful I should be. Living in this generation is not exciting. It is not a privilege. It is not to be sought for. Living in the west, in this generation, is the hardest generation to find the truth of the gospel, because of all the noise out there. Besides the hostility to Christianity and the cancel culture, there are an overwhelming amount of information sources to confuse, mislead, and deceive. Go and listen to any sermon on the net. What percentage of them will preach all truth? Even most truth? You have a far greater chance of finding a compromised gospel, another Jesus, and not the Jesus of the bible.
Praise God that he has chosen me as part of this tiny remnant here in the nation where I live! God help those who know nothing about God, and are living in this age of deceit and madness.
So ends this very long prophecy. To get back to the literal interpretation, we see that at some future date, both kingdoms will be one. Israel and Judah will be divided no more. It uses imagery of a future temple, as that is the only image which would truly speak to the Jew about the presence of Yehovah.
So what did this prophecy teach us? Don’t try to approach God and pretend that he will speak to you if you are living in unrepentant sin. Either get right with him, or don’t bother with your religious practices at all. Remember history. History teaches us many things. But almost everyone refuses to learn from history. God will recompense sin. He will also separate those few who truly want to serve him.
The English bible contains the following short word, while the Hebrew bible has the following 5 verses as part of the next chapter.
Eze 20:45 Moreover the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
Now begins a succinct 2nd word.
Eze 20:46 Son of man, set thy face (paw-neem) toward the south (tay-mawn – right hand), and drop (naw-taf – to ooze, distil gradually, to fall in drops, but also to speak by inspiration) thy word toward the south (daw-rome – poet, south wind), and prophesy against the forest of the south (neh-gheb – parched, Egypt, south country) field;
We see that God decides to use 3 Hebrew words for south. Another example of God’s play on words. This is a beneficial tactic when attempting to have one’s students remember some vital maxim. Do something peculiar and unique with your discourse.
Barnes’ notes on the bible has this to say:
In this verse occur three Hebrew synonyms for “south,” denoting:
(1) the region on the right, Teman 1 Samuel 23:24;
(2) the region of dryness, Negeb Joshua 15:4;
(3) the region of brightness, Darom Deuteronomy 33:23.
The variety of terms helps the force of the application. Chebar is in the north of Babylonia; from the north the Chaldaeans came upon Judaea. [end]
Daw-rome did not have the definition of brightness in Strong’s Concordance, so we’ll have to take Barnes’ word for it. The basic idea is that Babylon is in the north, and Judah is said to be in the south.
Eze 20:47 And say to the forest of the south (neh-gheb), Hear the word of the LORD; Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I will kindle a fire in thee, and it shall devour every green tree in thee, and every dry tree: the flaming flame shall not be quenched, and all faces from the south (neh-gheb) to the north (tsaw-fone – hidden, dark, gloomy) shall be burned (tsaw-rab – only time in OT) therein.
This south land is one of desert, and one of dryness, and one of wind (daw-rone as per Strong). When God decides to light it up in judgment, it will burn, and burn fiercely.
Eze 20:48 And all flesh shall see that I the LORD have kindled it: it shall not be quenched.
Once again, God is not shy to let us know that he wants the spotlight! While our putrid pantywaist preachers of paltry pablum ponderously pontificate pretentiously pithy precepts, Yehovah is flinging fireballs of retribution and just recompense upon his unrelentingly evil pseudo worshippers, who dare to claim his name while denying him by every breath they take.
When God begins to wipe out what he has called haram, which means under the ban of destruction, no one can stop it.
Eze 20:49 Then said I, Ah (alas) Lord GOD! they say of me, Doth he not speak (maw-shal – to liken, user figurative language, allegory, proverb) parables (maw-shawl – pithy maxim, metaphor, simile)?
And here it is. No matter how many pages I type, no matter how many commentaries that I write, the vast majority of Christendom will simply shrug it off, and proclaim that I have gone mad.
Rebels always find a way to say that this word does not apply to us. Or it doesn’t mean what it says. Or it doesn’t apply to us today. Etc. Etc. Blah, blah, blah.
In Ezekiel’s day, he has used the harshest language in the history of prophecy to try and make sure everyone understands just how angry God is. And what do these morons do? They say: ‘Oh, Ezekiel’s just speaking in parables. There is some secret, mystic, esoteric meaning to all of this. Let’s go talk to our friendly neighborhood rabbi. He’ll consult the Kabbalah, the Mishnah, or the Talmud, or some such other occultic and/or nonsensical tome, in order to get the real, secret meaning. Anything and everything to escape the truth that God is speaking to them, in the clearest language possible.
Thus ends another searing tongue lashing by Yehovah. I hope you are not looking forward to some ‘comfort, comfort my people’ sort of verses. If you are, you’ve come to the wrong place. God is upset, and he is nowhere near finished giving his people a piece of his mind.
Solitary Man
