Words in italic type have been added for clarity. They are not found in the original Hebrew or Aramaic.

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Ezekiel 22

Sins of Jerusalem

Ezekiel 22:¹ Moreover the word of the Lord (Yᵊhōvâ) came to me, saying,

Ezekiel 22:² “Now, son of man, will you judge, will you judge the bloody city? Yes, show her all her abominations!

Ezekiel 22:³ Then say, ‘Thus says the Lord God (‘ăḏōnāy yᵊhōvâ): “The city sheds blood in her own midst, that her time may come; and she makes idols within herself to defile herself.

Ezekiel 22:⁴ You have become guilty by the blood which you have shed, and have defiled yourself with the idols which you have made. You have caused your days to draw near, and have come to the end of your years; therefore I have made you a reproach to the nations, and a mockery to all countries.

Ezekiel 22:⁵ Those near and those far from you will mock you as infamous (Lit. defiled of name) and full of tumult (tribulation).

• The Hebrew word for tumult is Strong’s H2000 hāmam:
  confuse, discomfit, move noisily, drive a wagon in threshing
  
  • The meaning of tribulation is “to thresh”.
  • The tribulation is a time in which the Jews are threshed, along with the nations. It is as though they are taken to the wood shed and “thrashed”. At the end of the seven year tribulation every last Jew will recognize their Messiah.
    
    • Matthew 3:12 “(John the baptizer speaking of Jesus) His winnowing fan is in His hand, and He will thoroughly clean out His threshing floor, and gather His wheat into the barn; but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.”
    • Matthew 13:30 (Jesus’ parable of the wheat and the tares/weeds/chaff) Let both grow together until the harvest, and at the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, “First gather together the tares and bind them in bundles to burn them, but gather the wheat into my barn.” ’ ”
    • Isaiah 17:11 In the day you will make your plant to grow, And in the morning you will make your seed to flourish; But the harvest will be a heap of ruins In the day of grief and desperate sorrow (the tribulation).
      
• Jerusalem was purchased by King David when it was a “threshing floor”, almost prophetically. In the day you will make your plant to grow, And in the morning you will make your seed to flourish; But the harvest will be a heap of ruins In the day of grief and desperate sorrow.

Ezekiel 22:⁶ “Look, the princes of Israel: each one has used his power (Lit. arm) to shed blood in you.

Ezekiel 22:⁷ In you they have made light of father and mother; in your midst they have oppressed the stranger; in you they have mistreated the fatherless (Lit. orphan) and the widow.

Ezekiel 22:⁸ You have despised My holy things and profaned My Sabbaths.

Ezekiel 22:⁹ In you are men who slander to cause bloodshed; in you are those who eat on the mountains; in your midst they commit lewdness.

Ezekiel 22:¹⁰ In you men uncover their fathers’ nakedness; in you they violate women who are set apart during their impurity.

Ezekiel 22:¹¹ One commits abomination with his neighbor’s wife; another lewdly defiles his daughter-in-law; and another in you violates his sister, his father’s daughter.

Ezekiel 22:¹² In you they take bribes to shed blood; you take usury and increase; you have made profit from your neighbors by extortion, and have forgotten Me,” says the Lord God (‘ăḏōnāy yᵊhōvâ).

Ezekiel 22:¹³ “Behold, therefore, I beat My fists at the dishonest profit which you have made, and at the bloodshed which has been in your midst.

Ezekiel 22:¹⁴ Can your heart endure, or can your hands remain strong, in the days when I shall deal with you? I, the Lord (Yᵊhōvâ), have spoken, and will do it.

Ezekiel 22:¹⁵ I will scatter you among the nations, disperse you throughout the countries, and remove your filthiness completely from you.

Ezekiel 22:¹⁶ You shall defile yourself in the sight of the nations; then you shall know that I am the Lord (Yᵊhōvâ).” ’ ”

Israel in the Furnace

Ezekiel 22:¹⁷ The word of the Lord (Yᵊhōvâ) came to me, saying,

Ezekiel 22:¹⁸ “Son of man, the house of Israel has become dross to Me; they are all bronze, tin, iron, and lead, in the midst of a furnace; they have become dross from silver.

Ezekiel 22:¹⁹ Therefore thus says the Lord God (‘ăḏōnāy yᵊhōvâ): ‘Because you have all become dross, therefore behold, I will gather you into the midst of Jerusalem.

Ezekiel 22:²⁰ As men gather silver, bronze, iron, lead, and tin into the midst of a furnace, to blow fire on it, to melt it; so I will gather you in My anger and in My fury, and I will leave you there and melt you.

You will see the Light when you feel the Heat

Ezekiel 22:²¹ Yes, I will gather you and blow on you with the fire of My wrath, and you shall be melted in its midst.

Ezekiel 22:²² As silver is melted in the midst of a furnace, so shall you be melted in its midst; then you shall know that I, the Lord (Yᵊhōvâ), have poured out My fury on you.’ ”

Israel’s Wicked Leaders

Ezekiel 22:²³ And the word of the Lord (Yᵊhōvâ) came to me, saying,

Ezekiel 22:²⁴ “Son of man, say to her: ‘You are a land that is not cleansed (showered upon) or rained on in the day of indignation.’

• The day of indignation is the seven year tribulation.
  See reference verses for this day of wrath and Armageddon.
  
• Rain is the Messiah, Jesus Yeshua.
  See Topic: Jesus as the Rain.
  See Popup: Verses on the Rain.

Ezekiel 22:²⁵ The conspiracy of her prophets (princes; Scribes) in her midst is like a roaring lion tearing the prey; they have devoured people (Lit. souls); they have taken treasure and precious things; they have made many widows in her midst.

Ezekiel 22:²⁶ Her priests have violated (Lit. done violence to) My law and profaned My holy things; they have not distinguished between the holy (separated and clean) and unholy (common and unclean), nor have they made known the difference between the unclean and the clean; and they have hidden their eyes from My Sabbaths, so that I am profaned among them.

Ezekiel 22:²⁷ Her princes in her midst are like wolves tearing the prey, to shed blood, to destroy people (Lit. souls), and to get dishonest gain.

• The false prophets were compared to foxes.
  • Ezekiel 13:4 O Israel, your prophets are like foxes in the deserts.

• Now, the king and the royal family is compared to wolves.

Ezekiel 22:²⁸ Her prophets plastered them with untempered mortar, seeing false visions, and divining lies for them, saying, ‘Thus says the Lord God (‘ăḏōnāy yᵊhōvâ),’ when the Lord (yᵊhōvâ) had not spoken.

Ezekiel 22:²⁹ The people of the land have used oppressions, committed robbery, and mistreated the poor and needy; and they wrongfully oppress the stranger.

Ezekiel 22:³⁰ So I sought for a man among them who would make a wall, and stand in the gap before Me on behalf of the land, that I should not destroy it; but I found no one.

• A wall is a boundary, in this case it is a moral and spiritual boundary but it has huge gap in it. God needs someone of a strong spiritual sense to hold back the flow of sin.
• The huge gap was a result of untempered mortar. (v28)

Ezekiel 22:³¹ Therefore I have poured out My indignation on them; I have consumed them with the fire of My wrath; and I have recompensed their deeds on their own heads,” says the Lord God (‘ăḏōnāy yᵊhōvâ).