Study notes

Ezekiel 22

Introducing EzekielWho wrote it, when, why, and what to look for as you read

12:1–24:27 Section

Ezekiel continued sharing God’s messages of judgement among the Jews in Babylon. His actions of prophecy included packing bags for a trip and trembling while eating. He groaned and beat his chest and also drew a map for the king of Babylon. He didn’t cry when his wife died even though he loved her.

Some messages he spoke clearly to the people. He gave a short account of the entire history of Israel. He spoke against men and women who were false prophets. He spoke against elders who asked God for advice even while they worshipped false gods. Some people accused God of being unfair. They said that God punished them for sins they hadn’t committed. Those sins had been committed by their parents and their people from long ago. Ezekiel explained that God always and only ever does what is fair. God holds each person responsible for their own choices.

Ezekiel sang a sad song about Israel’s princes. Then he spoke clearly about King Zedekiah as an unholy and evil prince. Some Jews said that the judgement Ezekiel announced wouldn’t come for a very long time. They didn’t believe that God would allow Jerusalem to be destroyed. They didn’t believe that they deserved to be judged in this way. They didn’t think that they had lived in evil ways that had to be stopped. And they trusted that other nations would save Jerusalem from the Babylonian armies. God said that the time had come for him to act. This made it clear that no one could stop his judgement from coming.

Ezekiel shared some of God’s messages as poems and others as stories. In these stories God compared his people to different things. He compared them to a useless vine that was burnt in a fire. He compared them to a vine that grew the wrong way. He compared them to the scum left behind when metals are burnt to make silver. They were like meat in a pot that would be cooked over a hot fire. These were ways to describe the sins of the southern kingdom.

God compared his people to a baby girl that God rescued from the desert. But she grew up to be an unfaithful wife to God. God described Jerusalem and Samaria as two sisters who belonged to God. But they acted like prostitutes. These stories don’t mean that God had sex with anyone. God used marriage as a way to talk about being faithful and committed.

God had committed himself to being the Israelites’ God for ever. He had done this in the Mount Sinai covenant. The Israelites had committed to faithfully following the Law of Moses. The most important part of that was to worship and serve God only. But the people of the northern kingdom and the southern kingdom hadn’t done that. They didn’t trust God to give them peace, rest and safety. Instead they trusted the governments of nations like Assyria, Egypt and Babylon to protect them.

They followed the practices of the nations around them. They worshipped the false gods of other nations. This led them to treat needy people badly. It led them to want more and more wealth. It led them to sacrifice children to false gods. All of these things went against God’s laws. These were ways that God’s people had been unfaithful to him.

22:1–5

Now God called Ezekiel to speak like a prosecutor in a court. He announced the charges against Jerusalem that would lead to its judgment.

The people were guilty of sins against other people. They had shed innocent blood (see Genesis 9:5–6). They were also guilty of sins against God. They made idols, which God had forbidden (see Exodus 20:4–6).

These two kinds of sin made the city unclean. They made Jerusalem guilty and deserving of judgment. The people were no longer fit to stand before the holy God. As a result, Jerusalem faced certain destruction and shame.

22:1–31

Jerusalem was the holy city where God had placed his name. It was the spiritual center of Judah. The city represented God’s presence among his people.

But Jerusalem had become corrupt and unclean. Instead of honoring God, the city was full of violence and bloodshed. Because of this sin, God’s wrath (his just anger against sin) would come upon the city.

22:6–12

The charges against the people of Judah and their leaders came from God's law, especially from Leviticus 18–20; 25:1–55. Israel's many sins showed a failure to honor and trust the Lord and his commands. This unfaithfulness to their covenant with the Lord could lead to only one outcome: The people of Israel would face the covenant curses (Deuteronomy 8:19–20; 28:15–68).

22:13–16

God first showed his anger with the image of clapping his hands. This action expressed strong displeasure. Then he announced that he would pour out judgment.

The first judgment was exile. God would scatter the people of Judah among other nations. Through this scattering, God would remove their wickedness and cleanse them from sin.

22:16

when you have defiled yourself in the eyes of the nations: The Lord's people were scattered among the nations instead of living in the promised land. This situation made it seem like the Lord could not fulfill his promise. However, the Lord was willing to endure this dishonor so his forgetful people could learn to remember him.

22:17–22

Scattering was not the only part of God’s judgment. God would also gather the people of Judah into Jerusalem for judgment.

The prophet compared this gathering to metal placed into a furnace (a very hot oven used to melt metal). A worker gathers pieces of metal and puts them into the fire to melt and refine them.

But this fire would not make the people pure. Normally, a furnace removes waste material and leaves pure metal. In this case, the people were like worthless slag (waste left over after metal is melted). Since only waste would go into the fire, only melted waste would come out.

This judgment would not cleanse or restore the people. It would destroy everything in its path.

22:23–24

Jerusalem had already faced judgment, but it did not lead to change. The city remained polluted (morally and spiritually unclean).

22:25–29

  • This list of Jerusalem’s sins focuses on the wrongdoings of Judah's leaders (compare Zephaniah 3:3–4).

  • princes: The princes and other leaders abused their power by killing innocent people and taking their wealth. The priests sinned by failing to teach the law, preventing people from distinguishing between holy and unholy, clean and unclean. The prophets shared false visions instead of true messages from God. As a result, the people wandered away from God because they had no guidance.

22:30–31

Because of the sins of these former community leaders, the Lord looked for someone to rebuild the wall and act as a true prophet (see Ezekiel 13:5). This person would intercede for the people, like Moses did after they sinned with the golden calf (Exodus 32). The Lord found no one to turn away his wrath. So he would pour out his fury on the people completely (compare Ezekiel 11:21).

Verse notes: Adapted by Mission Mutual (Aquifer Open Study Notes) from Tyndale Open Study Notes © 2023 Tyndale House Publishers. CC BY-SA 4.0. Section notes: Biblica Study Notes © 2023 Biblica, Inc. CC BY-SA 4.0, via BibleAquifer. About the sources