1 - 4 The Judgment Is Total
1 Moreover, the word of the LORD came to me saying, 2 “And you, son of man, thus says the Lord GOD to the land of Israel, ‘An end! The end is coming on the four corners of the land. 3 Now the end is upon you, and I will send My anger against you; I will judge you according to your ways and bring all your abominations upon you. 4 For My eye will have no pity on you, nor will I spare [you], but I will bring your ways upon you, and your abominations will be among you; then you will know that I am the LORD!’
“The word of the LORD” comes to Ezekiel (verse 1). He, “son of man”, is to speak the word on behalf of “the Lord GOD” and is directed to “the land of Israel” (verse 2). The judgment is not confined to the mountains and hills, the center of the land, which the previous chapter deals with. The end is coming “on the four corners of the land”, that is, over the whole land, to every corner of it (cf. Isa 11:12).
The word “end” is mentioned three times in verses 2-3, giving it emphasis. It is also mentioned twice more in verse 6 (cf. Amos 8:2). The end for the land has come because the LORD is sending His anger against it (verse 3). That is a terrifying message. It must be brought to the people.
The LORD must let His judgment come on the evil ways the land has gone. His judgments will be in accordance with that. He will also repay them for all their abominations. The iniquity is so great and their taunting of the LORD so grievous, that He will not spare the land and will have no pity (verse 4).
When He deals with the land in that way, they will know that He is the LORD. This refrain is also found in verse 9 and verse 27, by which this chapter can be divided into three parts. All the suffering that the LORD will bring upon His land is for the purpose of bringing the guilty people to recognition of His right and majesty.
5 - 9 The Judgment Is Near
5 “Thus says the Lord GOD, ‘A disaster, unique disaster, behold it is coming! 6 An end is coming; the end has come! It has awakened against you; behold, it has come! 7 Your doom has come to you, O inhabitant of the land. The time has come, the day is near—tumult rather than joyful shouting on the mountains. 8 Now I will shortly pour out My wrath on you and spend My anger against you; judge you according to your ways and bring on you all your abominations. 9 My eye will show no pity nor will I spare. I will repay you according to your ways, while your abominations are in your midst; then you will know that I, the LORD, do the smiting.
The Lord GOD (Adonai Yahweh) lets Ezekiel – and through him the people – know that the time of His patience is over (verse 5). His patience with them has run out. One disaster will follow another in rapid succession and it is coming! These disasters announce the end (verse 6). “The end” is presented as a person awakening, moving and taking action.
When the end comes, it means the downfall of the “inhabitant of the land” (verse 7). Then “the day” has come when confusion will prevail and joy will be silenced. For those who think that day will bring them joy, it is a disillusionment, for that day brings judgment, terror and dismay (Amos 5:16-20). “The day” is the day of the LORD, the day when He will judge openly and no longer hide Himself.
“Shortly” that will happen, then the LORD will pour out His wrath on the land (verse 8). He will no longer withhold His anger, but execute it and judge the land in accordance with the sinful ways it has gone. His anger is completely justified. He will repay the land for all its abominations.
When He brings His judgments on the land, He will show no pity and spare nothing (verse 9). When He brings disaster upon disaster upon the land, the Israelites will know that He, the LORD, does the smiting (verses 4,27).
The actions of the LORD are presented in short sentences in the preceding verses. Verses 5-9 are largely a repetition of verses 1-4. It is a double testimony and they are, as it were, exclamations made in great emotion. They are to impress upon the people the horrors of the coming judgments which are approaching with great speed and inescapably.
10 - 13 The Doom Has Gone Forth
10 ‘Behold, the day! Behold, it is coming! [Your] doom has gone forth; the rod has budded, arrogance has blossomed. 11 Violence has grown into a rod of wickedness. None of them [shall remain], none of their people, none of their wealth, nor anything eminent among them. 12 The time has come, the day has arrived. Let not the buyer rejoice nor the seller mourn; for wrath is against all their multitude. 13 Indeed, the seller will not regain what he sold as long as they [both] live; for the vision regarding all their multitude will not be averted, nor will any of them maintain his life by his iniquity.
The announcement of the day of the LORD resounds again (verse 10). The many repetitions of the announcement of judgment place great and serious emphasis on its immutability. “Behold, it is coming”, is also said several times (verses 5,6,10). The warning sounds over and over again. It should be an incentive for us to warn those around us of the judgment that is coming, for “the Judge is standing right at the door” (Jam 5:9b).
The “doom has gone forth” because the king of Babylon is about to move into the land. “The rod has budded” means that God’s discipline – symbolized by the rod – is about to assert itself in the coming of the armies of Babylon. “The arrogance has blossomed” means that Babylon will act in the arrogance of its heart.
Instead of acknowledging the rod of God’s discipline and bowing to it, violence has risen like a rod (verse 11). The wickedness of God’s people has caused the rod to rise. They rely on violence to maintain themselves. Their rod is a rod of wickedness. Therefore, the judgment that God brings on them through the king of Babylon will leave nothing of them. All their wealth, all their eminence, all their boastfulness will disappear.
Once again the warning is repeated that the time of judgment has come and the day of judgment has approached (verse 12). In such a time of threat, people do want to sell their stuff, because it will be of no use to them. It is possible that Paul was thinking of this section when he wrote to the Corinthians that the time is short and that they should view buying and using resources in that light (1Cor 7:29-31).
Buyers like to take advantage of the misery of others to get a lot of property at extremely low prices. They are warned not to rejoice in this. Enrichment at the expense of the misery of others is repaid by God. They too will not escape the judgment that strikes the whole crowd. The seller should also not worry about the loss of his possessions. He would do better to worry about his soul (Lk 12:13-21).
The seller will never see his possessions again, even if both he and the buyer were still alive (verse 13). The vision of the judgment of exile “regarding all their multitude will not be averted”, for it is certain. Both the seller and the buyer have lived in iniquity. They will not be able to maintain their life, but perish.
14 - 27 Response to Judgment
14 ‘They have blown the trumpet and made everything ready, but no one is going to the battle, for My wrath is against all their multitude. 15 The sword is outside and the plague and the famine are within. He who is in the field will die by the sword; famine and the plague will also consume those in the city. 16 Even when their survivors escape, they will be on the mountains like doves of the valleys, all of them mourning, each over his own iniquity. 17 All hands will hang limp and all knees will become [like] water. 18 They will gird themselves with sackcloth and shuddering will overwhelm them; and shame [will be] on all faces and baldness on all their heads. 19 They will fling their silver into the streets and their gold will become an abhorrent thing; their silver and their gold will not be able to deliver them in the day of the wrath of the LORD. They cannot satisfy their appetite nor can they fill their stomachs, for their iniquity has become an occasion of stumbling. 20 They transformed the beauty of His ornaments into pride, and they made the images of their abominations [and] their detestable things with it; therefore I will make it an abhorrent thing to them. 21 I will give it into the hands of the foreigners as plunder and to the wicked of the earth as spoil, and they will profane it. 22 I will also turn My face from them, and they will profane My secret place; then robbers will enter and profane it. 23 ‘Make the chain, for the land is full of bloody crimes and the city is full of violence. 24 Therefore, I will bring the worst of the nations, and they will possess their houses. I will also make the pride of the strong ones cease, and their holy places will be profaned. 25 When anguish comes, they will seek peace, but there will be none. 26 Disaster will come upon disaster and rumor will be [added] to rumor; then they will seek a vision from a prophet, but the law will be lost from the priest and counsel from the elders. 27 The king will mourn, the prince will be clothed with horror, and the hands of the people of the land will tremble. According to their conduct I will deal with them, and by their judgments I will judge them. And they will know that I am the LORD.’”
In a desperate attempt to avert judgment in the form of the oncoming enemy, they have blown the trumpet to mobilize the warriors (verse 14). But no one has the courage to go to war, even though they are ready for it. They are paralyzed. That is because of the wrath of the LORD against them. Death is everywhere (verse 15). Outside the city, in the fields, the violence of war makes its victims. In the city, death and destruction reign through plague and famine.
Some will manage to escape and think they have a safe haven in the mountains (verse 16). They are like defenseless doves, whose natural abode is the valleys, but have fled from there for fear of the enemy to seek refuge in the mountains, where they feel alone and not at home. There they will each mourn over his own iniquity. They may be able to escape the violence of war around them, but the deep-seated fear of the enemy and ultimately of the LORD will torment them and make them restless day and night. They will realize that through their own sins they have brought this suffering upon themselves.
They will be without strength, while water – here a euphemism, i.e. mild expression, for urine – runs down their knees (verse 17). They are utterly demoralized and powerless to resist. Their appearance is the epitome of mourning, shuddering, shame and baldness (verse 18). Any attractiveness has disappeared and been replaced by signs of mourning and misery.
The silver and gold on which they cling so much and of which they have made idols, they will cast away as unclean (verse 19; cf. Isa 2:20). They will see how useless those things are in saving them from the wrath of the LORD (Pro 11:4; Zep 1:18). All this filthy lucre does not satiate the soul or fill the stomach. Gold and silver do not appease God’s wrath (cf. Psa 49:7-9; Pro 10:2). Their silver and gold led them to iniquity, as wealth so often does with people today.
Instead of honoring God in “the beauty of His ornaments”, which is the temple, and thereby showing Him that He is outstanding to them, they have made His temple an idol temple and defiled it (verse 20). Therefore, He now hands it over into the hands of the enemy who will further profane it. He has made His temple an object of uncleanness for them. God does not tolerate outward worship accompanied by idolatry, for that is an attack on the very essence of worship. All worship belongs exclusively to God. God does not tolerate an object of worship outside of Himself (Mt 4:9-10).
He will deliver them “as plunder” into the hands of the foreigners and “as spoil” to the wicked of the earth, that is, the Babylonians (verse 21). These will enter God’s ornaments, His temple. Their unholy acts will profane the temple and thereby bring profanity upon them. He will turn His face away from them, meaning He will no longer look upon them in favor (verse 22). He will surrender His temple, “My secret place”, which they boast of so much (Jer 7:4), to the Babylonians. These will violently invade it and profane it.
Ezekiel is to perform another symbolic act. He is to make a chain to indicate with it that the remnant of God’s people will be taken away into exile (verse 23; Jer 39:7; 40:1). God can no longer maintain them in His land, for they have made it full of blood by killing innocents. The city of Jerusalem is full of violence of one against the other. The rights of the other are not taken into account.
God will send “the worst of the nations”, that is, Babylon and the nations it subdued, to Israel (verse 24). These will take possession of their homes and thus deprive them of all security. The pride of the strong ones, that is the princes, the leaders, will cease. They will have nothing left to boast of. Those who sanctify them, their false priests, will have no more influence. They will lose their special status of holiness.
Anguish will overtake them and rule over them (verse 25). Desperately they will search for peace, but there will be none. External disasters will follow one another in rapid succession (verse 26). In addition to what they are experiencing, they will hear rumors of even more calamity, which will drive them inwardly to despair (cf. Eze 21:7; Jer 51:46; Mt 24:6). Rumors are beyond your control.
The three sources of knowledge to know what to do will fail. The prophet no longer receives a vision or revelation, the priest no longer teaches from the law, and the elders no longer have wisdom to give counsel. No one has an answer to the calamity that befalls them because the connection to heaven has been severed (cf. Mic 3:7). The silence of the grave prevails.
The highest authority, the king (Zedekiah), mourns (verse 27). The prince (high government official) is in despair. They are powerless and unable to provide a solution. As a result, the common people are paralyzed with terror and unable to do anything.
God deals with His people according to their own way. They reap the fruits of their sinful walk of life. He judges them according to their own regulations according to which they have arranged and lived their lives. There is no arbitrariness in His dealings. Everything He brings upon them, they have brought upon themselves. Through everything that happens to them because of the LORD, they will know that He is the LORD (verses 4,9). They have to deal with Him, not with Nebuchadnezzar.
With the next chapter a new section begins, which we can derive from the mention of a new date and that the hand of the LORD falls on Ezekiel (Eze 8:1).