This study began from a “word for the year” of “know God” and His character, and from there to learn to worship Him more. Blue colored pencil marks phrases in my Bible for “then they will know that I am the Lord” in Ezekiel’s message. It would be good if our readings were a broader overview, so we could see the whole picture. But I see the details, so we’re reading slowly.
“Therefore this is what the Sovereign Lord says: I myself am against you, Jerusalem, and I will inflict punishment on you in the sight of the nations. Because of all your detestable idols, I will do to you what I have never done before and will never do again” (Ezekiel 5:8-9).
- God was against Israel.
- He would punish them because of their idols.
- All the world would witness Israel’s punishment from God.
I’m surprised Ezekiel didn’t insert one of his themes here:
“I will make known my holy name among my people Israel. I will no longer let my holy name be profaned, and the nations will know that I the Lord am the Holy One in Israel” (Ezekiel 39:7, emphasis added).
- Israel’s captivity was due to their idol worship.
- We hear biblical messages in church today cautioning us against idols.
- Ours don’t look the same, but we still have a sinful tendency to place something (or someone) in our lives above God.
“And God spoke all these words:… ‘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 20:1-5a). 
- God made a promise in verse 9: this particular time of punishment was unlike anything they had ever seen or would ever see again.
- God takes idol worship seriously and personally.
*Why does God punish idol worship? How might He punish idol worship today?
*How do the nations know God is the Lord today?
*Why does God take idol worship personally?
“Therefore in your midst parents will eat their children, and children will eat their parents. I will inflict punishment on you and will scatter all your survivors to the winds” (Ezekiel 5:10).
- This verse reminds me of Paul’s words to those living in Rome, another corrupt society:
“Furthermore, just as they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, so God gave them over to a depraved mind, so that they do what ought not to be done. They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. …” (and the list goes on) (Romans 1:38-29 and following)
- God gives evil people over to their wickedness.
- We see that principle throughout Scripture.
- Since the Israelites chose to worship and sacrifice to idols, God allowed them to sacrifice in unimaginable ways.
- Scattered people can no longer work together against God.
“The Lord said, ‘If as one people speaking the same language they have begun to do this, then nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them. Come, let us go down and confuse their language so they will not understand each other.’ So the Lord scattered them from there over all the earth, and they stopped building the city” (at Babel) (Genesis 11:6-8).
- Scattered people can spread good news about God.
“On that day a great persecution broke out against the church in Jerusalem, and all except the apostles were scattered throughout Judea and Samaria. … Those who had been scattered preached the word wherever they went” (Acts 8:1, 4).
*How do people sacrifice to idols today?
*How can we spread the good news about God?
“Therefore as surely as I live, declares the Sovereign Lord, because you have defiled my sanctuary with all your vile images and detestable practices, I myself will shave you; I will not look on you with pity or spare you” (Ezekiel 5:11).
- Israel defiled the Lord’s sanctuary with idols and unholy worship.
- God rightfully took it personally and in turn, He reduced their numbers1 and influence through exile to Babylon.
- God blessed His people through Abraham by increasing their numbers so they were as numerous as the stars in the sky (Deuteronomy 1:10).
- Here God did the opposite: He no longer granted them His favor.
- Disobedience is the key: Israel disobeyed the greatest commandment with their idol worship.
“‘Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?’ Jesus replied: ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment’” (Matthew 22:36-38).
- This thread is woven throughout Scripture.
“Does the Lord delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in obeying the Lord?
To obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed is better than the fat of rams” (1 Samuel 15:22).
“For I desire mercy, not sacrifice, and acknowledgement of God rather than burnt offerings” (Hosea 6:6).
“… Jesus said, ‘It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’ For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners” (Matthew 9:12).
*How is obedience connected with God’s favor?
*What does it mean to say God desires mercy, not sacrifice?
Walking with God in obedience is more important than any rituals we follow. We don’t like that word, obedience. The Hebrew meaning for the word used above in 1 Samuel is simple:
“to hear, listen, heed a command”
- We have to be near God to hear His voice.
- We listen when we pay attention to His Words.
- We heed His command when we do what He says.
“A third of your people will die of the plague or perish by famine inside you; a third will fall by the sword outside your walls; and a third I will scatter to the winds and pursue with drawn sword” (Ezekiel 5:12).
God first mentioned these three punishments at the beginning of chapter 5 in Ezekiel’s object lesson.
“When the days of y our siege come to an end, burn a third of the hair inside the city. Take a third and strike it with the sword all around the city. And scatter a third to the wind. For I will pursue them with drawn sword” (Ezekiel 5:2).
All these things were part of Israel’s punishment through exile and captivity:
plague and famine within, death by sword, pursued and scattered.
*What do we learn about God’s character in this passage?
*How will learning more about God affect our daily life?
*How will you obey God this week?
*How will you worship God this week?
- Warren Baker, D.R.E., Eugene Carpenter, Ph.D. The Complete WordStudy Dictionary: Old Testament. (Chattanooga, TN: AMG Publishers, 2003). 215
- Warren Baker, D.R.E., General Editor. The Complete Word Study Old Testament (King James Version). (Chattanooga, TN: AMG Publishers, 1994) 2435