Throughout Ezekiel we’ve observed the principle of a remnant. God knows our hearts, and He knows there will always be one or more who steadfastly follow Him. Those people uphold the Lord, His Word, and faith from one generation to another until Jesus comes. In this passage, I believe the presence of a remnant is implied, although not specifically stated. Watch for it with expectation and gratitude that God always has His beloved.
Read Ezekiel 22:23-25.
- The land would experience severe drought in the day of God’s wrath—another consequence mentioned in the original record of the Law.
- Not only were they not cleansed, but God also accused them of practicing ritual cleansing as in pagan worship.1
- It doesn’t show in the NIV wording, but God used another word here to describe His indignation and intense anger.
- Be aware, Israel, your leaders conspired against you to devour you, steal away your treasure—all your valuables, and slay your men.
- They conspired against God and the people.
*Why do you think drought was one of the consequences for disobedience?
*What false rituals do we practice today thinking they will make us more “holy”?
Read Ezekiel 22:26-29.
- The priests violated the Lord’s holy law.
- They committed violence to the law and acted wrongly toward it—total disrespect for the Lord.2
- They defiled and profaned the sacred things set aside for worship.
- They did not distinguish between that which the Lord declared pure and consecrated and the unconsecrated, between holy and ordinary.
- They did not even consider keeping the Lord’s Sabbaths.
- God proclaimed creation “good” on the Sabbath and declared it a day to consider and enjoy all His works.
- This profanes God Himself, for He is Lord of the Sabbath. Jesus said,
“For the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath” (Matthew 12:10).
- Again, the leaders killed their own people for dishonest gain.
- Their so-called prophets hid and discredited their evil deeds with false prophecies.
- They proclaimed “soothing” words, whitewashing a misleading and false message.3
- They claimed their message was from God when the Lord had not spoken.
- God repeated specific ways they had broken covenant law.
- The Lord instructed them to listen and pay attention.
*How did the priests violate God’s holy law?
*Why did Jesus declare He is Lord of the Sabbath? What does this mean?
Read Ezekiel 22:30-31.
- The Lord declared He would search out one man who would stand up to defend the land and its people in the face of God’s promised destruction.
- The “false prophets [failed] to erect a wall of stones of truth and justice to stand in the day of battle around Israel.”4
- When people will not declare the Lord, the stones will proclaim His truth.
“Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord!”
“Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!”
Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to Jesus, “Teacher, rebuke your disciples!”
“I tell you,” he replied, “if they keep quiet, the stones will cry out” (Luke 19:38-40).
Jesus is “the stone you builders rejected, which has become the cornerstone” (Acts 4:11).
- There was none. No one would build a firm wall.
- Israel wasi so far removed from God they would not stand up for themselves.
- God would have to destroy this corrupted land.
- Again, God declared His coming wrath.
- His anger would consume them as with fire and completely put an end to their wickedness.
- They would receive the consequences for breaking God’s covenant law.
*How do false teachers today fail to build upon stones of truth and justice to declare the Lord?
The only word of hope we read in this passage is that God searched for one person who would defend Israel in God’s sight. One righteous, perhaps, as with Noah before the flood or Abraham pleading for Lot before God destroyed Sodom.
God’s heart always searches, hopes, and pleads for a remnant.
*How do you interpret the Lord’s search for someone who would build up the wall and stand in the gap?
*How can we stand in the gap today for those God would call to Himself?
- Warren Baker, D.R.E., Eugene Carpenter, Ph.D. The Complete WordStudy Dictionary: Old Testament. (Chattanooga, TN: AMG Publishers, 2003) 398
- Ibid., 351
- Ibid., 400, 1241
- Ibid., 189