In this chapter, Ezekiel emphasized his theme, ”then they will know that I am the Lord.” We read the phrase twice in four verses last week, and it occurs twice in the next four verses. Questions arise before we read additional detail.
*Why is it so important to God that His people will know that I am the Lord?
*What is God willing to do to make sure His children receive the message and take it to heart?
*How might our answers to these two questions affect our spiritual life?
“This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Strike your hands together and stamp your feet and cry out ‘Alas!’ because of all the wicked and detestable practices of the people of Israel, for they will fall by the sword, famine and plague (Ezekiel 6:11).
- Israel was to stomp like angry children to express their displeasure with punishment.1
- God wanted them to grieve their wickedness, every form of evil described in the previous verses.
- Their detestable practices and offenses against the law and against God should indeed result in disgust and hatred for sin.
“Everyone who sins breaks the law; in fact, sin is lawlessness” (1 John 3:4).
- Sin is anything that isn’t part of God’s plan.
“There is no one righteous, not even one; there is no one who understands; there is no one who seeks God. All have turned away, they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one. … for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:11-12, 23).
*Why would the Father instruct His children to stomp in displeasure?
*How do we who are no longer under the law sin today?
More than once in Ezekiel, we read these three judgments together: sword, famine, and plague.
“One who is far away will die of the plague, and one who is near will fall by the sword, and anyone who survives and is spared will die of famine. So I will pour out my wrath on them” (Ezekiel 6:12). 
- Those who are “far away” may be at a distance or
- The plague is literal disease.
- “Near” refers to a position in time and space.
- A sword is a cutting tool. It cuts down a man or cuts into the heart.
“For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart” (Hebrews 4:12).
- We’ve read earlier that Jesus is the Word.
- Ezekiel recorded that God’s judgment would strike those who were far away and those who were near to Israel, which at the time was God’s dwelling place.
- Now would be a good time to remember how God’s grace preserved a remnant.
“His purpose was to create in himself one new humanity out of the two, thus making peace, and in one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility. He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near” (Ephesians 2:15b-17). 
- In this particular judgment, it sounds as if part of the remnant died of famine, a third instrument of God’s wrath.
*Why did God’s judgments apply to those near and far away?
*How do Jesus’ Words cut into our hearts?
*How do we stray “far away” from God’s presence in our lives?
*Why do you think God punished part of the remnant? (if that is indeed a correct reading)
“And they will know that I am the Lord, when their people lie slain among their idols around their altars, on every high hill and on all the mountaintops, under every spreading tree and every leafy oak—places where they offered fragrant incense to all their idols” (Ezekiel 6:13).
- The Israelites would be mortally wounded in the mist of their idols.
- This punishment was widespread, throughout the land, at every place of pagan worship and sacrifice.
- The word for “altar” is the same word used for a place of sacrifice in their God-given sacrificial system.2 In other words, they have no excuse for not understanding.
- If readers further question, the words used to describe these places are words that refer specifically to worshiping foreign gods.
- A “hill” was where they worshiped foreign gods.3
- In the original description, the word for “spreading” is “green,” referring to fertility worship practices.4
- Oak trees were connected to cultic activity, and dense, leafy foliage to pagan worship.5
- These “places” were not random places that represented pagan worship. They were “pagan holy places.”6
- The word for “fragrant” has the same connotation as a pleasing aroma offered in sacrifice to the Lord, also offered to idols.7
- Sounds like God knew exactly what, how, and why Israel chose to worship.
- It would be good to remember how God defines idols:
“You shall have no other gods before me. You shall not make for yourself an image in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God…” (Exodus 20:3-5a).
- And what we can do to keep ourselves from idol worship:
“Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind” (Matthew 22:37).
*What altars do we set up for idol worship?
*Where and how do we practice worship of something other than the One True God?
*How does our “idol worship” mimic true worship of God?
“And I will stretch out my hand against them and make the land a desolate waste from the desert to Diblah—wherever they live. Then they will know that I am the Lord” (Ezekiel 6:14).
- The Lord extended His hand to bring judgements on His people.8
- In the Bible, “hand” often also means strength.
- God is mighty and powerful over all.
- In the original, there are two words in this verse translated “desolate,” with different meanings.
- “Desolate” referred to the total destruction of Israel and their land as they were sent into exile.9
- “Waste” (in our translation) refers to a state of isolation and desertion. The prophets help us grasp the desertion the land of Israel experienced, but desertion plus isolation hints at God turning away and deserting His dwelling place at that time—to enact the next steps in His overall redemption plan (revealed in part in Israel’s captivity stories).
- I wonder if Ezekiel’s repetition of his theme here hints at what God will do next.
- That is, they will know I AM is the Lord not only by what He has done, but by what He will do.
- Even if He deserted the land of Israel, I AM will not cease to exist.
As Jeremiah wrote to those in exile,
“‘You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you,’ declares the Lord, ‘and will bring you back from captivity’” (Jeremiah 29:13-14).
*What is the relationship between God’s hand, His strength, His judgment, and His mercy?
*How does idol worship lead us to desolate, wilderness places?
*What hope does God give us through these insights into His character?
- Warren Baker, D.R.E., Eugene Carpenter, Ph.D. The Complete WordStudy Dictionary: Old Testament. (Chattanooga, TN: AMG Publishers, 2003). 1079
- Ibid., 589
- Ibid., 181
- Ibid., 1068
- Ibid., 53, 802
- Ibid., 660
- Ibid., 730
- Ibid., 727
- Ibid., 1165
- Ibid., 685