Judgment on Idolatrous Israel

Topic: Judgment

Passage: Ezekiel 6:1–14

June 13, 2019

Commentary

Throughout Israel people had erected altars to worship pagan gods. The Lord was about to destroy these altars and liter the pagan shrines with the carcasses and bones of those who worshiped there.

Ezekiel addressed the mountains of Israel because it was there the “high places” of idolatrous worship were found (vv. 1-2). The ravines and valleys were also included in the pronouncement of judgment (vv. 3-7). When the Jews first entered Canaan and took over the worship sites their religious ceremonies were, no doubt, pure. Canaan’s customs, however, became incorporated into Jehovah worship. The pagan religion appealed to the baser part of man’s nature. Israel’s moral life began to decay. Ezekiel makes his fierce condemnation of this type worship.

From north to south the land would be devastated. However the Lord would preserve a remnant and scatter them among the nations (vv. 8-10). These survivors would some day acknowledge the Lord’s sovereignty and confess their sin of idolatry. There brings some hope for the people. A few will be left alive and will remember their God. The wickedness of their sin will cause remorse even to their own eyes. God’s work shall not have been in vain. They shall return to him.

A tremendous punishment, however, must come to Israel. The last section of this sermon begins with God instructing Ezekiel to strike his hands together, stamp his feet and cry out because of all the wicked and detestable practices of the house of Israel (vv. 11-14). The pestilence, sword, and famine shall take their toll. The dead bodies and the desolate land will convince the people God will not tolerate sin in the lives of his people. Israel will know that He is the Lord.

Application

It is easy to forget that the Lord alone is the supreme authority and the only source of eternal love and life. God may use difficulties in my life to teach me that He alone is God.

Ezekiel 6:1– 14 (NET)

¹ The Lord’s message came to me: ² “Son of man, turn toward the mountains of Israel and prophesy against them. ³ Say, ‘Mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Sovereign Lord! This is what the Sovereign Lord says to the mountains and the hills, to the ravines and the valleys: I am bringing a sword against you, and I will destroy your high places. ⁴ Your altars will be ruined and your incense altars will be broken. I will throw down your slain in front of your idols. ⁵ I will place the corpses of the people of Israel in front of their idols, and I will scatter your bones around your altars. ⁶ In all your dwellings, the cities will be laid waste and the high places ruined so that your altars will be laid waste and ruined, your idols will be shattered and demolished, your incense altars will be broken down, and your works wiped out. ⁷ The slain will fall among you and then you will know that I am the Lord.

⁸ “‘But I will spare some of you. Some will escape the sword when you are scattered in foreign lands. ⁹ Then your survivors will remember me among the nations where they are exiled. They will realize how I was crushed by their unfaithful heart that turned from me and by their eyes that lusted after their idols. They will loathe themselves because of the evil they have done and because of all their abominable practices. ¹⁰ They will know that I am the Lord; my threats to bring this catastrophe on them were not empty.

¹¹ “‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Clap your hands, stamp your feet, and say, “Ah!” because of all the evil, abominable practices of the house of Israel, for they will fall by the sword, famine, and pestilence. ¹² The one far away will die by pestilence, the one close by will fall by the sword, and whoever is left and has escaped these will die by famine. I will fully vent my rage against them. ¹³ Then you will know that I am the Lord when their dead lie among their idols around their altars, on every high hill and on all the mountaintops, under every green tree and every leafy oak —the places where they have offered fragrant incense to all their idols. ¹⁴ I will stretch out my hand against them and make the land a desolate waste from the wilderness to Riblah, in all the places where they live. Then they will know that I am the Lord.’”