Ezekiel Chapter 6
Tuesday, 12/23/25 at 09:18
Solitary Man
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Eze 6:1 And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
Until we reach the 8th chapter, we continue with this series of words that Ezekiel was given from the Lord. Chapter one spoke of the 5th year of king Jehoiachin’s captivity, which was in 593 BC. Chapter 8 will speak of the 6th year, or 592 BC. Thus the words from chapters one through seven all occur between 593 and 592 BC.
Eze 6:2 Son of man, set thy face toward the mountains of Israel, and prophesy against them,
Up until now, the words of judgment have primarily been sent to speak against Jerusalem and Judah, which was under Babylonian rule, but not yet at the point of their final siege. Here, God decides to use the term Israel. Specifically, he wishes to drop a word against the mountains of Israel. This was a poetical way of speaking a word against the people that inhabited these mountains and surrounding areas. Mountains were specifically mentioned as that is where the idolatrous high places were located.
The question is whether God is using the term Israel to denote Judah only, or the entire 12 tribes. Since the 10 northern tribes have been wiped off the map over 100 years ago, some think that Judah only is implied. Others believe that since Judah now ruled in portions of what was formerly Israel, that only Judah is meant. Others believe the judgment applies to all the original land of Israel.
I don’t think it matters much what we choose to believe in this instance. Note that it is not uncommon for God to continue to speak of all Israel, even after 10 of the tribes have been exiled and dispersed off the land. Remember that Judah themselves would be dispersed for 70 years. Yet in neither case did that mean that God suddenly decided that all of the land of Israel was somehow still not Israel! Something to keep in mind in case you are ever tempted to think that anyone else, besides the Hebrews, belong on all of the land that God gave Abraham. I like to take the bible as literally as possible, so I assume that the Lord is addressing this passage to all of Israel, even if only the portion of Judah was currently still in possession of the Hebrew people.
As an aside, perhaps one can see an oblique reference to the heretical ‘seven mountains of influence’ teaching that has infected the church of this generation. No doctrine could have been more disproved by the events of 2020 onward than that nonsensical idea that Christians were going to take over the levers of power in the Babylonian world system, all by themselves, before Jesus returned. One of the most man-centered pieces of nonsense that has ever darkened the doors of the church, we should be thanking the Father that the collapse of western civilization is at least putting to death such ridiculous notions once and for all. We are not here to take over Babylon. We are here to separate ourselves from Babylon, and to snatch as many souls out of the kingdom of darkness as we possibly can.
Eze 6:3 And say, Ye mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Lord GOD; Thus saith the Lord GOD to the mountains, and to the hills, to the rivers, and to the valleys; Behold, I, even I, will bring a sword upon you, and I will destroy (aw-bad – perish, undo) your high places (bamah – elevated).
God now makes sure that no one misunderstands him. He is not simply speaking to some inanimate object, such as mountains, but that he is including all of the land in his pronouncement, which is to represent all of the inhabitants of this region.
The first statement of woe is that a sword will be brought upon you. No matter where you live, a sword is coming. That is why God wanted to include all geographical features, so that no one got the idea that they were exempted from this judgment.
The judgment will fall upon their high places. In other words, judgment is concentrated on their places of idol worship. Yahweh wants it known in no uncertain terms that it is your idolatry that is the primary cause of his decree of doom.
The fact that Israel placed their idols in high places represents the fact that they were utterly unashamed of what they were doing. They displayed their idols in the most prominent places in the land, for all to see. Exactly like the alphabet crowd, and everyone who bows down to them, placing the rainbow flags in the most prominent places in the land. Proud to declare the fact that we are officially in open rebellion to Yehovah, and want all the world to know it!
What do you think will be our certain fate since we have chosen to act in the identical fashion of these Judeans? And remember, we supposedly have far more light than they had, concerning the ways of God. How much more guilty are we, parading our idolatry from every flagpole (high place) in our lands today?
Eze 6:4 And your altars shall be desolate (shaw-mame – stun, stupefy, lay waste), and your images shall be broken: and I will cast down (naphal) your slain (khaw-lawl – pierced, polluted, profaned) men before (paw-neem – face, in the face of) your idols.
You think that by worshipping these idols, that they will bring you life and prosperity. I am going to show you that this will bring you nothing but death and ruin. If you want to trigger Yehovah, start worshipping something other than him. In Israel’s case, they embraced the worship of the fallen ones, as represented by Baal, Ashtoreth, Moloch, among others. In our case, we worship movie stars, athletes, our cell phones, our sports teams, our bank accounts, our desire to be liked on social media. We worship our false doctrines, perhaps our superstar pastors of our mega churches, and any and all of our various entertainments. We are entertainment crazy! How many of us must have our daily dose of our favorite television shows? How many of us also worship our kids? We tell ourselves that we’re simply showing them our love when we must attend every practice, every recital, every game, every activity. But often we’re just afraid of what our fellow parents will think of us if we don’t slavishly revolve our lives around our children, rather than around Jesus.
Thou shalt have no other gods before me. We all need to think long and hard about whether or not we are obeying this first and foremost command in all perfection. Otherwise, we may find ourselves on the road to ruin, even as these chosen people of God found themselves.
The important point of this verse is that God promises that your idols will be destroyed. You will also be killed, and killed by me. I will destroy you in the presence of your precious idols. How exactly God will make that to occur is up to him. In our times, perhaps he exposes our particular form of idolatry for all the world to see, effectively casting us down in front of whatever idol we happen to worship. Whether money, or sex, or false doctrine, so many pastors and others have been exposed and fallen.
Eze 6:5 And I will lay the dead carcases of the children (bane – sons) of Israel before (paw-neem) their idols; and I will scatter (zaw-raw – cast away, spread, strew) your bones round about your altars.
Here is a promise of judgment on our children, or the children of any rebellious and apostate nation. We must stop thinking that these judgments only apply to the Jews of that day. We are so quick to grab any positive promise that we can find out of the Old Testament, and apply it to ourselves. How come we refuse to do the same for the consequences, when we find ourselves acting in the same way as they did?
Verses like this make us squeamish. God will visit the punishment of the sins of the people on their children.
It is universally taught that all children go to heaven, should they die as children. We get the idea from places such as Romans, where Paul states that sin is not imputed where there is no law.
Rom 4:15 Because the law worketh wrath: for where no law is, there is no transgression.
Rom 5:13 (For until the law sin was in the world: but sin is not imputed when there is no law.
Rom 7:9 For I was alive without the law once: but when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died.
We concluded that God does not hold humans accountable until the so called age of accountability, whenever that is. That is when a child is able to know for themselves the difference between good and evil. I have heard estimates of the age anywhere from 8 to 13.
If this is so, then what are we to do with verses such as these?
Psa 58:3 The wicked are estranged from the womb: they go astray as soon as they be born, speaking lies.
Here the bible says that this special class of sinners called the wicked are estranged even in the womb. They miss the mark as soon as they are born, according to the psalmist!
Frankly, I will not try to convince you what this may imply. Suffice it to say that our western ideas about Yahweh may not be as accurate as we may believe. Who is to say if an accursed race produces nothing but accursed children? That is not to ever say that the blood of Christ cannot rescue an individual who finds themself in such an unfortunate situation. The verse does not say that they can never be saved. But it certainly implies that they are under a heavy spiritual disadvantage, even from their mother’s womb!
All that to say that we should not find it surprising if the consequences for our sin that God lays out for us in his word are a lot harsher than we like to admit. God does, at times, punish the children for the sins of the fathers.
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;
God alone holds this prerogative. Man is not allowed to punish the children for the sins of the father.
Deu_24:16 The fathers shall not be put to death for the children, neither shall the children be put to death for the fathers: every man shall be put to death for his own sin.
We are not God, and God reserves certain things for himself. Vengeance is another such action.
All of this is to say that if we truly are people of the word, then we must come to terms with the severity of God. This verse says that those who engage in continual, unrepentant idolatry, risk having their children slain by Yahweh. God’s wrath may be kindled to such an extent that in this case, he will scatter those children’s bones all around the altar, for everyone to see. Just as they proudly flaunted their idolatry for all to see, so God will flaunt his judgments in the same manner.
Israel loved the child sacrifice that seemed to be part and parcel of much of this idol worship, so God would oblige them by killing their children for them. Since they didn’t mind sacrificing their children, they shouldn’t even look at this judgment as such a big deal, should they? After all, they were willing to voluntarily throw their children in the fire to Moloch, as was recorded more than once in their history books.
Have we not begun to experience this judgment on our own children? Has not the state taken them from us, to brainwash them with the most irrational and filthy lies in our supposed places of education? Have they not mutilated them, and left them to die? Have they not injected them with the most deadly concoctions yet devised by men, all in the name of saving them from an imaginary plague? And haven’t we all, for the most part, just stood by and watched it happen? Such is the fate of all those who turn to idols, and away from the living God.
Eze 6:6 In all your dwellingplaces the cities shall be laid waste (khaw-rab – destroyed), and the high places shall be desolate (yaw-sham – to lie waste); that your altars may be laid waste (khaw-rab) and made desolate (aw-sham – guilty, punished, perish), and your idols may be broken and cease, and your images may be cut down, and your works (mah-as-eh – action, labor) may be abolished (maw-khaw – erased, blotted out).
God does not mind repeating himself. He wants it known in no uncertain terms that idolatry is a death sentence. If you study the bible closely, you will eventually come to the conclusion that there are two particular sins that God puts at the top of the list when it comes to angering him. And those are idolatry and immorality. If God reveals to you that you are engaging in either or both of these, do all that you can to rid yourself of these things, as you could not put yourself in greater spiritual danger if you tried.
Man’s cities are usually what they take the most pride in. Look at what we have built. Think of Babel. When men get together, and evil is afoot, idolatry is what usually springs up. God is promising that those cultures that indulge in, and celebrate idolatry, that each and every one of their population centers will be wiped out. Their idols will be crushed.
Not only will their idols be destroyed, but all their works as well. How many great civilizations have had all their monuments wiped out when an invading army comes in and destroys everything in their path? Things that took decades to build, wiped out in a single day. So hard to create. So easy to destroy.
To be fair, works here most probably means the idols themselves, which are often regarded as the works of men’s hands. Either way, destruction is what they are about to reap. They have experienced destruction in the past, but this time it will be on a level that will be unprecedented.
Note the irony here. Israel had been ordered to abolish the Canaanite idols. They refused, and now God would abolish all those same idols that they should have abolished in the first place.
Eze 6:7 And the slain (khaw-lawl – pierced) shall fall (naphal) in the midst of you, and ye shall know that I am the LORD.
It is the curse of fallen man that only in the direst of circumstances do we then recognize the hand of God in our midst. While the wild eyed charismatics of today look for signs and wonders in the oddest places, seeing the hand of God where there is none, they are mostly blind to the real hand of God that is systematically taking down our hedges of protection, and allowing the enemy to come in many guises and forms and bring gradual ruin to our nations. When the body count starts piling up, that is when the people of Judah will finally recognize that it is the Lord God Yehovah who is behind all of this.
How God wishes that we would recognize him when he acts in his goodness to bless and protect us! But no, there is something so wicked, so vile, in the typical man’s heart, that it inevitably goes astray, especially if it experiences a prolonged season of prosperity. Sometimes I wonder if we shouldn’t pray for more affliction, if we truly understood spiritual realities the way that we should. But no, we all believe that we can handle excessive blessing. We all assume that we will stay faithful and close to our Savior. But how many of us really do?
God does not say here that you will know him by his love. Nor by his mercy or grace. For those who are in apostasy, it seems the primary (and perhaps only) way that they will know that God is God, is when judgment falls. And not just any old judgment, but death, and lots of it.
Eze 6:8 Yet will I leave a remnant, that ye may have some that shall escape (paw-leet – refugee, fugitive) the sword among the nations (goy), when ye shall be scattered (zaw-raw) through the countries.
In the previous chapter, God was so angry that he stated that even those few who managed to escape the main horror would be hunted down and slain as well. He made it sound like he wasn’t willing to leave even one soul alive. But here in this verse, God clarifies his intent, in that he regularly seems to revert to this constant theme, that there will always be a remnant who will somehow survive.
I think that the concept of the remnant is imagined in our modern minds as those few whom God will magically protect from all hurt and harm. That is, that they are exempt from all judgment. Verses such as this, and in several other places, most notably the book of Jeremiah, do not teach this. Yes, there will be a remnant. But no, they do not escape scot free. They share in the judgments of God, the big difference being is that God allows them to live. Remember Baruch, Jeremiah’s faithful scribe?
Jer 45:2 Thus saith the LORD, the God of Israel, unto thee, O Baruch;
Jer 45:3 Thou didst say, Woe is me now! for the LORD hath added grief to my sorrow; I fainted in my sighing, and I find no rest.
Jer 45:4 Thus shalt thou say unto him, The LORD saith thus; Behold, that which I have built will I break down, and that which I have planted I will pluck up, even this whole land.
Jer 45:5 And seekest thou great things for thyself? seek them not: for, behold, I will bring evil upon all flesh, saith the LORD: but thy life will I give unto thee for a prey in all places whither thou goest.
Baruch had grief and sorrow. He fainted and sighed. He found no rest. His future plans were obliterated. God did not protect him from all the consequences when Babylon destroyed Jerusalem, and the entire land of Judah. Instead, God told him to be content that his life was to be spared.
Here, Ezekiel is told that yes, there will be a remnant. But they will be fugitives and refugees in various Gentile nations, where they will be scattered. There is no promise that they won’t lose all their possessions. Nor is there any promise that every family member will survive. They are to be allowed to live, and not much else. Being a fugitive and a refugee was not a very glamorous future. But that was the best that anyone could hope to fare, once total judgment was to be unleashed. And remember that this total judgment is being unleashed on the people of God, not on the Gentiles, or the wicked.
Eze 6:9 And they that escape (paw-leet) of you shall remember me among the nations (goy) whither they shall be carried captives, because I am broken (shaw-bar – crushed, hurt, brokenhearted) with their whorish (zaw-naw – adulterous, fornicating) heart, which hath departed from me, and with their eyes, which go a whoring (zaw-naw) after their idols: and they shall lothe (detest) themselves for the evils (rah – wickedness)) which they have committed in all their abominations (to-ay-baw – morally disgusting, abhorrence).
Here is the one verse amongst so many where God is willing to reveal a tiny piece of his heart to his people. God says that his people have caused him to be brokenhearted. Isn’t that a scary thought, that we, as a wayward child of God, could cause our Father’s heart to break? Wouldn’t that be classified as one of the most shameful and awful things that we could ever cause? To crush God’s heart, all because we refused to obey his commandments, and to walk with him daily? To accept the sacrifice of Christ for our salvation, then to turn away and end up worshipping something else with our life? Can we begin to grasp the wickedness of such a thing? And yet some of us will spend 5, 6, 7 or more hours a day on the internet, or in front of our televisions. Since we aren’t physically bowing down in front of a statue, we think the label of idolatry does not apply to us. Well guess what? The Israelites had no internet or TV to devote themselves to. They had to work all day, every day, just to survive. But the little free time that they did have was devoted to worshipping any other god besides Yehovah. And if we are blessed with an overabundance of free time, and use it to devote ourselves to anything besides Yehovah, then what is the difference? Whom, or what, do you love the most? What do you love spending the most time doing? Talking with Jesus, or scrolling your text messages? Reading the bible, or binge watching Netflix? Praying and interceding for the body of Christ, or devoting every spare moment spoiling your children?
If we could only catch a glimpse of the broken heart of Yahweh, when we habitually stray from the path that he has laid out for us, we would be stricken with such a guilt, that I believe the devil could never cause us to behave so foolishly ever again.
I believe God chooses his remnant very carefully. It says here that those who have escaped shall remember Yehovah. Even amongst the heathen, in which they are now immersed, they shall then recall how wonderful it was when they once lived in a God fearing land. Now they live amongst the idolaters. They wanted their idols so badly, now they would be immersed in cultures that were wholly given over to them.
God says that he is brokenhearted because his people’s hearts are whorish. That is, they are spiritual adulterers. As an unfaithful wife, who screws her neighbor, so Israel has played the harlot and departed from the living God. We all can imagine (and maybe have even experienced) how awful the feeling is when you discover that your spouse has cheated on you. Take your limited ability to feel, and multiply it immeasurably, and maybe we can begin to appreciate the sorrow and pain that our adulterous ways affect our Father in heaven. We should be glad for even this one verse of openness by Yahweh, as the rest of this book focuses on the depth of his rage over this treachery.
Notice God says that they committed whoredoms with their heart and with their eyes. How often do the eyes lead us into evil! Men, we see women dressed a certain way, and we lust. We can’t get the image out of our minds. We meditate on it, fantasize about it, and soon our actions lead us to sin in one way or another. Women, the way some of you dress should be the source of great shame. Instead, you secretly revel in the fact that you are aware that you turn many heads when you are out and about. Your whorish heart takes pleasure in causing men to lust after you. Otherwise, why would you adorn yourself the way that you do? What other possible purpose would you have when you dress in a provocative fashion?
What this chosen remnant will eventually be caused to do, once judgment has run its course and the consequences have been fully experienced, is to finally reflect on what they have done. And if they are still loyal to their God, they will loathe themselves. They will not try to prevaricate or equivocate. They will not misrepresent, quibble, misspeak, tergiversate or fabricate. They will not attempt to shift or shuffle, falsify, fib or palter. No, they will fully recognize and acknowledge that they are just as much to blame for the dire circumstances of their nation as is anyone else. They will loathe themselves for all the wickedness that they have done. They will acknowledge that some of the things they engaged in were actual abominations – abhorrent, and morally disgusting.
And what would be some of the things that the modern western churchgoer has done to warrant such a charge? How about our doctrines of demons, such as the prosperity gospel, and all its abominable offshoots? How about the exaltation of mega-pastors, in their mega-churches? True temples of idolatry for the modern age. How about the refusal to speak out against the many forms of sin? How about our caving in and catering to the alphabet crowd and wicked government officials, all because we did not want to be persecuted, or fined, or arrested?
Just how much compromise is okay with God?
When shall pastors and preachers focus their attention on attempting to ‘un-brainwash’ entire generations of western believers who have been taught all these compromising doctrines of depravity? When shall we begin to attempt to restore the sort of attitude towards our practices and lifestyles that God wanted this ancient remnant to have? When shall we finally understand just how horrible our transgressions truly are, as far as how God sees them? Studying the book of Ezekiel is a good step in the right direction in order to have any hope of restoring such things.
Eze 6:10 And they shall know that I am the LORD, and that I have not said in vain (khin-nawm – gratis, devoid of cost or reason, without a cause) that I would do this evil (rah) unto them.
Only when the full brunt of the consequences of the total judgment of God is experienced, will we truly know and understand the Lord. Try to let this sink in deep. It seems we need a certain level of personal pain before we realize that God means business. He is not grading us on a curve. He is not looking the other way. He is not winking at sin. In no shape, way or form is this some sort of game. This is literal life and death. This is eternity in heavenly bliss, or being burnt alive forever and ever, with no possibility of escape. Exactly what other topic should take a greater priority in our minds than this one?
God does not waste words. He does not waste actions. There is nothing wasteful in anything that God says or does. This most certainly applies to all of the word of God. God did not put any of these verses into the bible for no reason. Not a single verse was written in vain. God promised to do all this evil to the Jews if they did not repent, and lo and behold, it came to pass, just like he said. In exactly the same way, God promises to do the exact same thing to us if we don’t repent, and lo and behold, it is coming to pass all around us. And still we won’t fully repent.
What is the matter with us?
Eze 6:11 Thus saith the Lord GOD; Smite with thine hand, and stamp with thy foot, and say, Alas for all the evil (rah) abominations (to-ay-baw) of the house of Israel! for they shall fall (naphal) by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence (deh-ber – plague).
To clap the hands and stamp the feet is a gesture of strong emotion, or singleness of purpose. Here are a few examples:
Num 24:10 And Balak’s anger was kindled against Balaam, and he smote his hands together: and Balak said unto Balaam, I called thee to curse mine enemies, and, behold, thou hast altogether blessed them these three times.
Eze 21:14 Thou therefore, son of man, prophesy, and smite thine hands together, and let the sword be doubled the third time, the sword of the slain: it is the sword of the great men that are slain, which entereth into their privy chambers.
Eze 25:6 For thus saith the Lord GOD; Because thou hast clapped thine hands, and stamped with the feet, and rejoiced in heart with all thy despite against the land of Israel;
In our day we would perhaps swear an oath. Some cultures would whistle shrilly. Basically, Ezekiel is told to use the common gestures of the day to emphasize that God means business. Do not quietly mumble God’s curse. Shout and clap and stamp! Let there be no doubt that this is as real as it gets.
And what is he to say? He is to groan and sigh for the inevitable fate of these wicked people. He is to groan over all the wicked things that they have done, knowing what they have brought upon themselves. Once again, God reiterates his three most favored forms of judgment. He will elaborate on this punishment in the following verse.
Eze 6:12 He that is far off shall die of the pestilence (deh-ber); and he that is near shall fall (naphal) by the sword (kheh-reb); and he that remaineth and is besieged shall die by the famine: thus will I accomplish my fury (khay-maw – heat, anger, poisonous rage) upon them.
No matter where you are, no matter what state you find yourself in, whether in a ‘safe’ place or a dangerous one, I will execute my judgments on you. To those who think they have escaped by ‘bugging out’, I will send pestilence your way. He that is not trapped in Jerusalem, but is hiding out nearby in some cave or some such thing, I will ferret you out and cut you down with the sword. To the rest who are stuck in Jerusalem, you will starve.
God has a poisonous, white hot rage that has built up inside of him, all because of the behavior of his own people, those who call themselves by his name. This over the top anger will be loosed, and accomplish what it was set out to do, when he obliterates almost all of his people.
Eze 6:13 Then shall ye know that I am the LORD, when their slain (khaw-lawl – pierced) men shall be among their idols round about their altars, upon every high hill, in all the tops of the mountains, and under every green tree, and under every thick oak, the place where they did offer sweet savour to all their idols.
God just can’t stop repeating himself, especially when it comes to the detestable practice of idol worship. Over and over, he speaks of their evil practice of falling down before statues and groves, altars and places of sacrifice that are not of him. He knows that what this represents is a rejection of his rule, and an embracing of the rule of his enemies, those fallen ones who masquerade as gods.
Well, you think your new gods are so powerful. You have no idea what you have done. When I am through with you, each and every one of you shall be forced to acknowledge the fact that I am the one and only true God. I am all powerful, and no one can stand against me. When I judge, no one can stop me. Your false gods will not and cannot save save you. When you see the dead all around you, slain at the altars of the gods that they looked to for protection, then you will remember that only Yehovah could of done this.
Eze 6:14 So will I stretch out my hand upon them, and make the land desolate (shem-aw-maw – devastated, an astonishment), yea, more desolate (shem-aw-maw) than the wilderness (desert) toward Diblath, in all their habitations: and they shall know that I am the LORD.
Not only will you die, but your entire land will be as if dead. Always the land suffers when man unleashes destruction upon man. How much more when the God of heaven does so!
From Ellicott’s commentary we find this tidbit about Diblath:
The name Diblath does not occur elsewhere; but Diblathaim, the dual form, is mentioned in Numbers 33:46-47, Jeremiah 48:22, as a double city on the eastern border of Moab, beyond which lay the great desert which stretches thence eastward, nearly to the Euphrates. It was customary to call any wilderness by the name of the nearest town. (See 1Samuel 23:14-15; 1Samuel 23:24-25; 1Samuel 25:2, &c.) That wilderness appears from this passage to have been proverbial for its desolation. [end]
Today we might say as desolate as Chernobyl, or Three Mile Island.
One more time, Yahweh reminds us that the main result of all this judgment and destruction is to make all men know that he is God. Or, that he is Yehovah. The one and only. He cannot be matched, or imitated. He cannot be replicated, or competed with. There is no one like him. Search high, and search low. There is truly no god like Yehovah.
So here we have essentially the same message as in the previous chapter. God does not mind repeating himself, if but even one more soul thinks twice and decides to repent.
If we think that the ride has been somewhat rough so far, hang onto your hats, as we’ve seen nothing yet!
Solitary Man
https://solitaryman.substack.com/
