Ezekiel 22
Jerusalem’s people headed to the furnace
Crime is up in Jerusalem
1The LORD gave me a message:2Human, I want you to tear into Jerusalem but good. Are you up to it? Get in their faces about all the killing going on—the murders and other repulsive behavior. It’s sickening. 3Tell them the LORD God says this:
This is a city that kills itself. You’re shedding each other’s blood. Also, you’ve been assimilated into idolatry—you’re one with the idols. You’ve trashed your lives.
4You have blood on your hands. You have idols in your heart. So, your time here is just about up. And you have yourselves to thank for it. Here’s my plan. I’ve decided to disgrace you and make you the international butt of jokes. 5Jerusalem, you notoriously good-for-nothing town, I’ll see to it that people from near and far will insult you.
Israel breaks the Ten Commandments and more
6Your national leaders are murderous criminals. Murder is their pastime. 7You disrespect your moms and dads. [1] You exploit and extort immigrants. You treat widows and orphans miserably. [2] 8You hate everything about what it means to be the people of God. Nothing is sacred to you. You treat the Sabbath like it’s any other day. 9You get people killed by the lies you tell. You eat food sacrificed to idols at pagan hilltop shrines. You love those sex rituals, don’t you?10You have sex with your father’s wife. You violate women who want to be left alone during their period. [3] 11You have sex with your neighbor’s wife. You get way too jazzy with your daughter-in-law. Some of you do it with your stepsister. [4]
12You kill people for a bribe. You take advantage of people who borrow money from you, keeping the security deposit and the accrued interest. [5] You extort your own neighbors. And—you forgot me, the Lord God.
Deportation ahead
13I want you to picture me pounding my fist on a table, disgusted at the criminal way you’ve gotten your hooks into other people’s money. You’ve cheated them and you’ve even killed some. 14Do you think you’re going to be strong enough and brave enough to handle what I’m going to do to you? I’m the LORD. So, trust me when I say: I’m going to do it.15I’m going to scatter what’s left of you when I’ve finished here. I’m deporting you to other nations throughout the region. I’m going to squeeze the filth right out of you, like popping a pimple. [6] 16Those other nations will treat you like trash. Then, you’ll finally know that the LORD is the one who did this to you.
Jerusalem as a Scum Town
17The LORD gave me a message:18Human, tell the people of Israel they are as worthless to me as scum. They’re like the dross waste floating on top of molten metal—silver, bronze, iron, lead, and tin. 19So, I’m going to scoop up you people in Jerusalem.
20A metalworker collects silver, bronze, iron, lead, and tin and melts them in a refiner’s furnace. [7] I’m going to put Israel in the furnace and heat the fire with bursts of air. I’m going to melt the impurities out of you. You can think of the fire as an expression of my anger over your sin. 21I'm going to gather you up, blast you with fire, and melt you.
22Just as silver melts, so will you. I will pour out my wrath on you until you are poured out like melted metal. Then you’ll know it was the LORD who did the pouring.
Crooked nobles and lying prophets
23The LORD gave me a message. 24Human, tell these people in Jerusalem:You haven’t had rain in a long time because I’m angry with you. 25Your royal leaders and nobles treat their own people like prey, and feed off of them. They steal their most precious objects. And they have killed men who have left widows behind.
26The priests distort my teachings and treat my sacred objects like their everyday household goods. They have no idea what it means to live a ritually clean life. They don't know the difference between clean and unclean. [8] And they have completely ignored my teachings about the Sabbath. As far as their teachings are concerned, there is nothing sacred about me either. 27Officials in town are like wolves tearing into people like prey. They rip them apart, shedding blood and destroying the lives of people just to get richer.
28Prophets hide behind their lies. They go around telling people they saw a vision or they know what the future holds for someone, and they say they know it because the LORD God told them. Well, I'm telling you that I’m the LORD God, and I never talked to those people. 29People throughout the land commonly practice extortion and robbery. They exploit and oppress the poor and the most vulnerable people in society. They also extort and exploit immigrants living in the land. They show these people no justice.
30I looked for leaders among the people who would repair the walls [9] around Jerusalem to build it up so I would not have to destroy it. But I found no one willing to do that. 31So, I'm hitting them with the full blast of my wrath. I'm going to consume them with fire. I'm giving them what they deserve in return for what they have done.
Footnotes
One of the most basic laws in the Bible, and one of the famous Ten Commandments: “Treat your parents with respect so you can live a good long time in the land the LORD your God is giving you” (Exodus 20:12).
Jewish law required people to help widows, orphans, and immigrants. See Deuteronomy 24:17, 19-22. This is just one of many. The teaching is repeated throughout the Bible.
Women are considered spiritually unclean during their menstrual cycle. “Don’t have sex with a woman when she’s in her menstrual period. She’s ritually unclean and contagious” (Leviticus 18:19).
Literally, your “father’s daughter.” Scholars often presume that is code for “the daughter your father had with another wife, instead of your mother.” Otherwise, the sin is even more “upchuckive.” (Every new word has to start somewhere.)
“If you lend money to any of my chosen people who have fallen on hard times and need financial help, do not charge interest. You are not to make a profit off of this” (Exodus 22:25).
There’s no mention of a pimple, but it expresses the idea. The text more literally says, “I’ll purge [or beat] the filthiness out of you.” A more contemporary way of expressing the idea is probably too much for the Bible text. But maybe it’s not too much for a note: “I’m going to beat the s**t out of you.” The metaphor portrays the people full it—all kinds of disgusting, smelly, repulsive sins. God says he expects his punishment will be enough to turn the nation back to him.
When metalworkers in Bible times refined metal, dross melted first and floated to the top. Workers scooped it off. Silver and lead floated up next. It was scooped off and remelted later to separate silver from lead. Desired metals all melted at different temperatures.
Most laws require an unclean person to wait for a time—perhaps a day or more. Afterward, they take a ritual bath in “living water,” which is water from a moving source such as a stream or a spring.
This probably isn’t just about fixing the walls around Jerusalem. Doing that could have delayed Babylon’s breakthrough into Jerusalem. But building the walls seems a metaphor for doing what it takes to protect the people from sin, and to avoid the punishment that the contract between God and Israel calls for: invasion and exile (Deuteronomy 28:15-68).
Discussion Questions
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