The Final Warning, a study of Ezekiel 20:1-24:27

These chapters give Ezekiel’s final predictions of God’s impending judgement upon Judah. It begins with an overview of God’s mercy towards Israel from the time of slavery in Egypt with His promise of judgment and restoration. [20:1-49] In the parable of the sword God warned of the coming conflict with Nebuchadnezzar. [21:1-32] Chapters 22 and 23 give a graphic expose of the sins of Israel, portraying her infidelity the parable of Oholah and Oholibah. Our lesson will focus on the parable of the boiling pot, and the sign of an un-mourned death. [24:1-27]

The entire scripture passage is the account of God’s dealing with His people Israel in judgment and mercy that they might return to Him. Remember a major theme of the book is, “And they will know that I am the Lord God.”  A phrase repeated at least five times in these five chapters. [see Ezekiel 20:44; 22:16; 23:49; 24:24, 27b]

 A review of God’s mercy towards Israel. [20:1-32]

The elders of Israel came and sat before Ezekiel the prophet to inquire of the Lord. [v.1] However, the elders, leaders of Israel,  were not sincere in their desire but were putting on a false front. [see 20:29-31] Therefore God told Ezekiel to speak words of judgement to them. Had they come in repentance He would have heard and answered. Instead Ezekiel was to, “Make them know the abominations of their fathers;” [vv.2-4] Ezekiel then reviewed the history of God’s mercy to Israel of his deliverance from Egypt, and giving of the law. [vv. 5-12] But Israel spurned the Lord’s mercy, broke His commandments, and rebelled against Him. [vv.13-14] However God would be faithful to Israel and in spite of their sin He did not annihilate them. [vv.15-17] The second generation continued in the ways of their fathers and thus they did not enter into the land. [vv.16-26] God did take them into the Promised land, yet they “blasphemed” Him through their sacrifices. [vv.27-29] Ezekiel was to tell the elders they were defiling themselves as had their fathers. Therefore, God said he would not be inquired of by them. [vv. 30-32]

The promise of judgment and restoration. Ezekiel 20:33-44, omitted by “Explore the Bible,” describes the coming judgement of the Jews who will be living at the conclusion of the Tribulation time when Christ returns to earth. It will be a time when Israel will listen to God and honor His holy name, v.39, a time Israel will serve Him on His holy mountain, there in that mountain He will accept His people and their gifts, v.40,and there He says of them, “and you will loath yourselves and all the evil things you have done.” [v.41-43] Then they will know that He is the Lord. It is the promise of His ultimate restoration and His future kingdom. [v.44]

In the closing verses God told Ezekiel to tell the elders that His fiery judgement is coming soon. [vv.45-49] Ezekiel responded “Ah Lord God! They are saying of me,’ ‘is He not just speaking parables?” [v.49 NASB95]

B.  The sword of the Lord’s judgment. [21:1-32]

The Lord told Ezekiel to “set your face toward Jerusalem and speak against the sanctuaries and prophecy against the land of Israel.” [v.2] The term, “set your face towards,”  is used four times in Ezekiel each time he is to pronounce God’s judgment. [see Ezekiel 20:46; 25:2; 28:21] He was to warn them that God was against them and He was going to remove His sword from its sheath and “cut off from you the righteous and the wicked.” [v.3b] The prophet was to “groan with breaking heart,” and when they asked why he was groaning he was to reply, “because of the news that is coming…Behold it comes and it will happen.” [vv.6-7] The second part is a three stanza song of the Lord’s sword that is sharpened, drawn, and will do its work. [v.10-17]

The sword is identified as the king of Babylon. [v.18] Ezekiel was to make a sign and mark the way for the king of Babylon to come to Jerusalem. [vv.18-23] God then pronounced His judgment upon the people of Jerusalem. The king of Israel was Zedekiah, his right to rule was taken away when he rebelled against Babylon. “The right to rule will not be restored until He comes whose right it is, and I will give it to Him,” is a Messianic reference.  [vv.24-27]

In the last prophecy of this chapter Ezekiel was to pronounce God’s judgment on Ammon and the Ammonites. [vv.28-32] They thought that they had escaped His judgment since Nebuchadnezzar had turned his armies toward Jerusalem. However the Lord promised they would not escape they would be “fuel for the fire.”
   
C. An expose of the sins of Israel, Ezekiel 22:1-23:49

Because Israel had become “dross” to the Lord, He would draw them into Jerusalem and into the smelter of His judgement as silver and gold are placed in the smelter. [22:1-22] Next the prophets, priests, and princes are charged with injustice, conspiracy, and dishonesty. [vv.23-29] God searched for a man among them to stand in the gap so He would not destroy it, but He found no one. [vv.30-31] Thus His indignation, fire, and wrath would be poured out upon them. [v.31]                             

A parable of the infidelity of Judah and Israel to God. The two women were Oholah – Samaria or the northern nation of Israel, and Oholibah – Jerusalem or the nation of Judah. They became His, but both played the harlot. Oholah committed adultery with Assyria, vv. 1-10, Oholibah with Assyria, Babylon, and Egypt. [vv.11-21] The remaining verses tell of the consequences of their sins. [vv.22-49]

D. The parable of the boiling pot, Ezekiel 24:1-14

First, the parable of the boiling pot. [vv.1-14] This parable was acted out on the “very day” Babylon laid siege to Jerusalem. Note (1) the date was to be clearly noted, “write the name of the day this very day.” [v.1] The day was January 15, 588 BC. The day the siege of Jerusalem began. [v.2] It was also the date Ezekiel had been pointing to for over four years. The same date is recorded in 2 Kings 25:1; and Jeremiah 39:1; 52:4.  (2) Note the words, “To the rebellious house,” [v.3] This is the eleventh and last time these words appear in the prophecy of Ezekiel.

Ezekiel was to fill a pot with water, pieces of meat with the bones from the choices of the flock. He was to kindle a hot fire under the pot and bring it to a seething boil. [vv.3b-5] Then Ezekiel was to say to the city, “Woe to the bloody city, to the pot in which there is rust and whose rust has not gone out of it!” [v.6] The contents of the pot represented Israel’s blood guiltiness as in chapter 22. The prophet said Jerusalem was like a pot now encrusted whose deposit will not go away. Thus the rust the encrustation of her sin would not go away and would ruin choice meats. Though the Lord would have cleansed her if she would have turned to Him, she refused to repent. [vv.9-13] Therefore the Lord has spoken, “I will not relent, and I will not pity and I will not be sorry; according to your ways and according to your deeds I will judge you.” [v.14]

E. The sign of an un-mourned death. Ezekiel 24:15-27

An un-mourned death. 24:15-18  God’s Word to the prophet “And the word of the Lord came to me saying:”  [v.15] “Son of man,” – the term for the prophet used over 400 times in the book.  

The revelation: “Behold, I am about to take from you – the desire of your eyes with a blow.” [v.16b] (1) Desire – the complete longing or delight of the person. Solomon recorded the words of the Shulammite, “I am my beloved’s and his desire is for me.” [Song of Solomon 7:10] (2) Can you picture the intimacy of the prophet and his wife?  He was a loner in Babylon, his messages did not generate close friendships, His face was as hard as flint.  God called on him to deliver His message through all means weird and wonderful. Mrs. Ezekiel may well have been his only confident, and he hers. She had gone into exile with him, through thick and thin. (3) She was soon to die, suddenly to die by a “blow” – the word is most often translated as a plague, twice as slaughter, once as calamity and here as a blow. Numbers tells us that the men who brought out the very bad report of the land died by the plague, same word. [Number 14:37]

The instruction: “but you shall not mourn and you shall not weep, and your tears shall not come.” [v.16b] That’s a hard word to carry out. Bereavement grieving is a whole social science: (a) As a rule the closer the loved one the deeper the hurt – Ezekiel was about to lose the love of his life. He would be cut to the heart. But he could not show it. His mourning would be in secret, in the heart. (b) The secular phycologist would have a coronary over that, saying “No, Share your grief!” (c) I would remind you this is a specific instruction to a specific person and unless you are in Babylon just before the siege of Jerusalem and your name is Ezekiel these words are not for you. There may be some here, at some time who will grieve privately, but most of us will find the comfort of family and friends, in openly grieving.(d) It is almost a unique command. Ezekiel’s contemporary prophet, Jeremiah, was instructed, “Do not enter a house of mourning, or go to lament or to console them; for I have withdrawn My peace from this people,” declares the Lord, “My lovingkindness and compassion.” Jeremiah 16:5; And, “Do not weep for the dead or mourn for him, But weep continually for the one who goes away; For he will never return, Or see his native land.” Jeremiah 22:10. Remember, however, that the situation was the same, he spoke to the same people, and the historical background was the same.

 Ezekiel could mourn, but not openly. [v.17] It could have been because he was a priest, Leviticus 21:10-12 forbade the priest to openly mourn even his father or mother. If that is the case the context seems to indicate what Ezekiel was to do was not common practice even among the priests. He could “Groan silently.”  Rather than openly mourning he was to: (1) Put on his turban – the normal manner was to have the hair tousled. (2) Put on his shoes – normal was to go bear footed. (3) Do not cover your mustache, or lips – normal was to cover the lips. (4) Do not eat the food friends bring to you – normal was to receive their food & comforting words. All a big contrast to the loud lamentation of normal mourning. [v.17]

The event: Ezekiel records, (1) “I spoke to the people in the morning.” [v.18a] (2) “and in the evening my wife died.” [v.18b] (3) “And in the morning I did as commanded.” [v.18c] The time when his wife would have been buried.

The sign of Ezekiel, 24:19-24
The response of the people: “Will you not tell us what the things you are doing mean for us.” [v. 19] Ezekiel answered (1) It is a message from God, “Thus says the Lord God of Israel” [21b] (2) “I am about to profane my sanctuary,” [v.21] God was going to destroy the temple in the soon coming judgement. Just as Ezekiel’s loss of his wife was the most devastating thing to happen to him, it was also a picture of what was coming nationally for Israel – the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple.

The key to understanding this passage: The temple would be profaned through its destruction, and the slaughter that would take place there. That is the slaughter of sons and daughters of the captives in exile. The temple was: (a) “the pride of your power,” (b) “The desire of your eyes,” (c) “the and the delight of your soul.” Not only would they lose the temple but also, “And your sons and your daughters, whom you have left behind, will fall by the sword.” [v.21] Everything dear to them was soon to be destroyed.

Ezekiel’s warning: “You will do as I have done.”  The destruction of the temple, of Jerusalem, and the slaughter of the sons and daughters would come like a blow. Like Ezekiel’s prohibition of public mourning, so they would not mourn publicly. (a) The magnitude of the destruction would render all grieve inadequate, (b)  The fact that they were in Babylon, the destroyer of Jerusalem, may have made it unsafe to publicly grieve. (c) For sure because the depth of their sin, and the lack of any repentance, God forbid upon mourning. [v.22 -23]  The sign of Ezekiel – no mourning on the death of the love of his life – so Israel’s exiles would have no public mourning at the fall of the pride of their lives – Jerusalem, the temple, and their children. [v.24] Ezekiel had been a sign before, 4:1-3 the siege of Jerusalem, and 12:6,11, their going into exile. They would do just as he had done. The purpose, “Then you will know that I am the Lord God.” [v.24b] The fifth of fourteen times this phrase appears in the prophecy. 6:7; 7:9, 27; 17:24; 20:44, 22:16, 23:49, 24, 24,27; 25:5,7,11,14,17.

God’s promise to Ezekiel. 24:25-27
A second “very day” is coming. It would be marked by: (a) The fall of the city of Jerusalem, it would be looted, and be burned, (b) the temple desecrated burned, and destroyed, (c) the captive’s sons and daughters would be slaughtered. [v.25] (d) On that day escapees from Jerusalem would come with the news – all is lost! [v.26] (f) On that day Ezekiel you will speak freely again, your mouth will be opened “you will speak and be mute no longer. Thus you will be a sign to them,…”  [v.27; 3:25-27] (g) “On that day they will know that I am the Lord.” [v.27b]

Eighteen months later: “Now in the twelfth year of our exile, on the fifth of the tenth month, the refugees from Jerusalem came to me, saying,“The city has been taken.”
    
22 “Now the hand of the Lord had been upon me in the evening, before the refugees came.  and He opened my mouth at the time they came to me in the morning; so my mouth was opened and I was no longer speechless.” Ezekiel 33:21-22

 The Lord carried out His judgment just as He said He would.

All Scripture quotations from NASB95