Ezekiel – Lesson 5 – Chapters 6 & 7
Idolatry Denounced and Punishment Promised
I. Introductory Comments.
A. Ezekiel chapter six is transitional.
B. It moves from the purely dramatic forms of the messages
in chapters 4 and 5, combines dramatic and vocal elements,
and anticipates the visions and messages that follow.
C. This message also contains a thematic transition from
the sins of the nation in general (chs. 4-5) to the
mountains and high places and detestable practices (6:11)
that were associated with pagan worship.
D. Thus the focus of chapter 6 is on the individual
responsibility of the people and prepares the way for the
subsequent spoken messages.
II. Message to the Mountains.
A. Ezekiel commanded to preach to the mountains of Israel
–prophetic dramatization of the end of false worship.
(6:1-2.)
1. Although this was a spoken message, it also was
accompanied by the symbolic action of setting his face
against the mountains of Israel.
a) This was a symbolic gesture of judgment. (See 13:17;
21:2, 7; 25:2; 28:21; 29:2; 35:2; 38:2.)
2. After his first oracle of judgment addressed to
Jerusalem (5:5-17), Ezekiel was directed to announce
judgment on the “mountains of Israel,” a phrase that occurs
16 times in Ezekiel and nowhere else. (The singular occurs
in Josh. 11:16.)
a) He was instructed to prophesy against the mountains as
though they were a ready audience to hear God’s message (v.
2).
b) As the mountains received this message of judgment, they
would later receive one of blessing. (36:1-15.)
3. The mountains were especially centers of idolatrous
worship, representing Israel’s apostasy and perversion of
the good and holy things of God (cf. 6:13; 18:6, 11-12;
22:9).
a) Shrines dedicated to Canaanite deities were built in
groves on the hills and mountains.
b) The Hebrews tried to produce an amalgamation of elements
of Canaanite worship and Jehovah worship.
B. Warning of approaching destruction of places of
idolatry. (6:3-7.)
1. The words of 6:3 were used in the later message of 36:4
to describe the devastation of Israel’s pagan shrines.
a) These high places characteristically consisted of
several basic elements.
(1) There was an altar for offering sacrifices, usually
built of stone or mud brick.
(2) There was a wooden pole to represent the female goddess
of fertility called Asherah.
(3) There was at least one stone pillar to represent the
male deity Baal.
(4) There was a smaller incense altar with a tent for use
in eating sacrificial meals, practicing sacred prostitution
(1 Kings 14:24; 2 Kings 21:3; Isa. 57:3-12), and storage of
cultic vessels.
b) Ezekiel forecasted the systematic destruction of these
worship centers that attempted to combine Jehovah worship
with pagan practices.
(1) What they had made was to be wiped out (v. 6).
(2) This was significant because Ezekiel was not describing
judgment of the heathen but judgment of God’s own people.
(3) He rejected their pagan altars as idolatrous and
unclean (cf. ch. 8).
(4) As a result they would know by experiencing judgment
that he, Jehovah, is God and that he does not accept
adulterated worship (v. 7).
2. This was a clear indication that the reform measures
that Josiah initiated in 622 BC had failed.
a) After Josiah’s death the people reverted to their former
practice of worshiping idols.
b) Ezekiel used his favorite word for idols (39 times, 9
times elsewhere), which may have been created to sound like
“detestable things.”
c) It also has been associated with “dung.”
3. Judgment was described in graphic terms depicting the
destruction of the sacrificial altars, incense altars, and
idols (vv. 4-6).
a) Whereas these worship centers usually had animal bones
scattered about, Ezekiel said that their bone would be
scattered around the pagan altars.
b) Through the passage the emphasis is shifted from the
mountains, to the worship centers, to the people who are
directly responsible.
(1) Their pollution was moral and their religion was filth
– the worst kind of pollution.
(2) It is not an oil slick that is a reproach to any
people. (Prov. 14:34.)
4. The message reaffirmed the sovereignty of God by his
rejection of pagan worship -- you shall know that I am the
Lord.
a) The exclusiveness of God is not an easy thing to learn.
(1) It took Pharaoh a 10 lesson correspondence course, and
even then he wasn’t completely educated.
(2) Israel had more lessons than Egypt and hadn’t yet
learned it.
b) 72 times in this book the phrase occurs.
(1) Ye Shall Know that I Am Jehovah.
(2) All doubts gone; all idols ripped up and ruined; all
iniquity punished and holiness vindicated.
(3) The chariot of God rumbles across the soul of Israel,
leaving a trail of broken idols and fully taught corpses.
C. A brief interlude of hope – a repentant remnant will be
preserved in exile. (6:8-10.)
1. A word of encouragement and hope followed the
hopelessness and despair presented in vv. 3-7.
a) Some people would be spared although they will be
scattered among the nations (v. 8).
b) This message, which came before the destruction of
Jerusalem in 586 BC, revealed that the final destruction
would leave a small remnant that would be the hope for the
future.
2. When the scattered remnant were among the nations, they
would remember God in anticipation of their repentance (v.
9).
a) Remembrance as used here was more than mental recall of
the facts but also included the idea of a new openness to
God.
b) Idolatry is spoken of elsewhere in the prophets (e.g.,
Hosea) as spiritual adultery, but was further developed by
Ezekiel.
c) Ezekiel saw a future time when a repentant Israel would
“know him” again, turn from idolatry, and return to Jehovah
(v. 10). (This idea is developed again in 16:59-63;
23:1-49; and 36:1-38.)
D. A mocking lament of the devastation Israel’s idolatry
will have caused. (6:11-14.)
1. The three forms of judgment mentioned – sword, famine,
and plague – are repeated from 5:1-3, 12.
a) Ezekiel was told to clap his hands, stomp his feet, and
cry “Alas” as signs of excitement and emotion used to decry
the abominations and idolatrous practices of the Jewish
people (v. 11).
b) The three forms of judgment are repeated in v. 12 with
the message that the judgment will be all-inclusive and
therefore inescapable.
2. Diblah has not been identified with certainty.
a) It may be a reference to Riblah, which is not mentioned
elsewhere in the book, but was a border city.
b) Nebuchadnezzar captured Zedekiah and blinded his eyes at
Riblah (2 Kings 25:5, 7; Jer. 39:6-7; 52:8-11, 26-27).
3. The closing formula (v. 14) specified the aim of the
judgment.
a) This phrase was used throughout the message in chapter 6
and illustrated the longing of the prophet for all people
to know the God of Israel as the one true God.
b) The point was that people will know him either through
response to his loving attempts of salvation and fellowship
or through judgment; God’s preference was the former.
III. Prophetic Dramas of Judgment in Summary. (7:1-27.)
A. Judgment announced. (7:1-4.)
1. Ezekiel announced that the end had come – the Day of
Jehovah’s judgment was imminent (vv. 1-2, 7-10, 19.
a) This is an example of prophetic past tense.
b) It proclaimed the absolute certainty of a future event.
2. The end was to come upon all the land – four corners –
suggesting that no city would be spared (v. 3).
a) The end of Jerusalem was expanded to encompass the end
of Judah.
b) God promised to punish the entire nation.
(1) The end that was upon them was of their own doing – God
would feed them on their own ways.
(2) There is in every nation and individual a self-destruct
button – sin.
(3) Part of the punishment that God lays on the wicked is
to let them have their own way – to give them up (Rom. 1)
and permit them to practice without obstacle from him all
that their heart desires.
(4) The Jews had asked for, had begged for what God was now
about to give them.
3. The purpose of this judgment was to bring a new
knowledge of God (v. 4).
a) He never judged people capriciously or for the enjoyment
of judging.
b) His goal was always redemptive – to open a way for mercy
and grace.
B. Calls for judgment. (7:5-9.)
1. This passage is punctuated by the use of the word “come”
(five times in vv. 5-12).
2. This unheard of disaster (lit., “an evil which is one”)
is an unprecedented or singular disaster.
3. The doom mentioned in vv. 7 and 10 results in the loss
of joy of the mountains – those high places where the
fertility rites and harvest celebrations of joy took place
would not be filled with cries of anguish and pain.
4. Vv. 8-9 repeat the ideas expressed in vv. 3-4.
a) The fruit of judgment had ripened.
b) The fact that this idea was repeated several times with
no response from the people bears testimony to the
deadening power of sin.
(1) It is amazing how easily messages of judgment are
forgotten.
(2) The messages must constantly be reinforced.
c) At the conclusion of this section God stressed the
redemptive purpose of judgment – then you will know that it
is I, the Lord (v. 9).
(1) Judgment often brings renewed interest in spiritual
things.
(2) The tragedy is that this usually happens after judgment
has befallen a nation or an individual.
(3) Tragedy usually rekindles interest in God.
C. Certainty of judgment. (7:10-13.)
1. After announcing the end had come (vv. 1-4) and
stressing the unprecedented nature of this judgment,
Ezekiel pointed out that the judgment was imminent,
permanent, fixed and irreversible.
a) God would use the Babylonians as the rod of his anger to
judge Israel.
b) The rod that blossomed (v. 10) may be a reference to
Aaron’s rod in Num. 17:8. (The almond rod that budded
suggested God’s choice of Aaron as high priest but also was
a sign of his displeasure with the arrogance of the people
(Num. 17:10-11), who had just witnessed the awesome
judgment of Korah (Num 16:1ff.))
2. Buying and selling, like rejoicing and grieving, suggest
activities of normal business, social, and personal life.
a) Ezekiel announced the cessation of those normal
activities (v. 11).
(1) The people had heard the prophets, but they went about
their business, they heard, but they didn’t hear.
(2) They half believed, but didn’t believe – the judgment
was at most for another generation.
b) Divine wrath wiped away all the regular elements of
human stability.
(1) There were also overtones of the law of the Sabbath
Year (Deut. 15:1-2) and the Jubilee Year (Lev. 25:1-6).
(a) In the Sabbatical Year all slaves were set free, and in
the Jubilee Year all property was restored to its original
owner.
(b) Land was a sacred trust from God that the Hebrews had
received at the conquest under Joshua.
(c) Therefore property was only sold in cases of extreme
need.
(d) Such sales were regarded as temporary and redeemable.
(2) In the day of judgment prophesied by Ezekiel the seller
would not recover his land, and the individual judgment of
the coming bondage of the exile would not be reversed (v.
13).
c) Material things would be of no value in a time of divine
judgment.
(1) Unbridled materialism and secularism that divorces God
from human society tends only to intensify judgment.
D. The concluding verses of this message contain three
elements to underscore the picture of the total destruction
of the nation.
1. Destruction announced. (7:14-18.)
a) The alarm would be sounded, but defense would be useless
since the knowledge of the invasion would paralyze and
terrorize the populace (v. 14).
b) The three scourges of war previously mentioned – sword,
plague, and famine (cf. 5:12; 6:11-12)) were divided
between the city and the country (v. 15).
(1) This was not so much to identify the location of each
scourge as it was to proclaim that the entire nation would
be affected.
(2) The people would respond like doves mourning in the
valleys (v. 16).
(3) They would seek remote hiding places to escape the
invading armies.
(4) They would be overwhelmed with the terror, suffering,
and shame brought upon them because of their inequities.
c) Limp hands and weak knees describe a complete paralysis
of strength and ability to resist the invading army (v.
17).
d) Sackcloth and shaved heads were traditional elements of
mourning and appropriate to the contest of judgment (v.
18).
(1) These were not signs that resulted from true
repentance, but mourning over the catastrophe of
destruction and the resulting famine and plague.
(2) The people were not sorry for their sin so much as they
were sorry that they were having to cope with the
discomforts and horrors of the invasion.
2. Uselessness of physical resources. (7:19-22.)
a) Their silver and gold were useless for averting judgment
(v. 19).
(1) This was a sobering reality for a materialistic
society.
(2) When the invading armies came, the silver and gold
would be abandoned like an unclean object, signifying the
repulsiveness of materialism.
b) They had misused their jewelry by making and adorning
places of worship (v. 20), and it would now be given to
foreigners (v. 21).
(1) Nebuchadnezzar destroyed the temple and took the golden
and silver vessels to Babylon where they were profaned in
the temple of his pagan gods.
(2) Belshazzar used these same objects as objects of pagan
worship and as a means of ridiculing the Hebrews and their
God.
(3) Rather than letting the Hebrews profane the temple
while pretending to worship, God would profane it by
turning it over to the heathen.
c) V. 22 seems to anticipate the departure of God’s Spirit
from the temple in Jerusalem and the temple’s desecration
and destruction at the hands of the Babylonians.
(1) Ezekiel carefully chronicled all the basic elements of
the sins of the people to show that they deserved the
impending judgment of God on the nation.
(2) These elements included pride (7:10, 20, 24), self
–confidence (7:14), materialism (7:19), and superficial
worship (7:20-22).
3. Fall of Jerusalem announced. (7:23-27.)
a) Ezekiel depicted the violent overthrow of Jerusalem with
its inhabitants taken captive.
(1) Chains were a sign of captivity (v. 23).
(2) The kind of chain mentioned was used as a fetter for
captives in transport to Babylon (cf. 1 Kings 6:21; Isa.
40:19).
(3) The word for “bloodshed” was literally “judgment of
bloodshed” (v. 23), signifying that the captives were
guilty of crimes punishable by death.
(4) Violence often characterizes a sinful society as a
manifestation of self-inflicted judgment.
b) Capture of houses was part of the warning given by Moses
as he described the penalties of disobedience (see Lev.
26:31-32).
(1) The search for comfort and guidance in the midst of the
destruction of the nation would be futile, like Saul’s
attempt to seek counsel from the deceased prophet Samuel (1
Sam. 28:1-5).
(2) Instead of the peace, prosperity, and solidarity that
should have characterized Hebrew society, the exile brought
pain, loss, and confusion (vv. 24-27).
(a) Neither the prophets, priests, nor elders would be able
to make sense of the situation, leaving the people with no
direction from their national leaders (cf. Jer. 18:18).
(b) Ezekiel envisioned a time of desperation in which
people would return to the usual methods of revelation.
(i) They would seek a vision from a prophet, a teaching of
the law from the priests, and counsel from the elders, all
to no avail (v. 26).
(ii) Finally, such desperation would be the experience of
all, even those at the top of society (v. 27, cf. “the
pride of the mighty,” v. 4).
c) By judging Judah in accordance with the standards and
punishments declared to them from the beginning in the
Mosaic covenant, the Lord would cause them to recognize him
as different from the gods of the nations, a God not to be
manipulated or taken for granted, but rather obeyed and
trusted wholeheartedly.