Ezekiel 22, Bloodshed and Idolatry -- the Many Injustices of Jerusalem

Ezekiel has been describing the coming disaster for Judah, at the hands of Nebuchadnezzar. Here YHWH details the many sins of Judah and Israel.

Ezekiel 22:1-5, Blood and idols

The word of the LORD came to me:

"Son of man, will you judge her? Will you judge this city of bloodshed? Then confront her with all her detestable practices and say: `This is what the Sovereign LORD says: O city that brings on herself doom by shedding blood in her midst and defiles herself by making idols, you have become guilty because of the blood you have shed and have become defiled by the idols you have made. You have brought your days to a close, and the end of your years has come. Therefore I will make you an object of scorn to the nations and a laughingstock to all the countries. Those who are near and those who are far away will mock you, O infamous city, full of turmoil.   

At a basic level, the sins of Jerusalem fall into two categories, "shedding blood", that is, killing and oppressing people and "making idols", that false worship. We will get hints that the second sin leads to the first....

Jerusalem, a city of idols and bloodshed, will become an object of scorn. 

Ezekiel 22:6-12, Shedding blood

"`See how each of the princes of Israel who are in you uses his power to shed blood. 

• In you they have treated father and mother with contempt; 
• in you they have oppressed the alien and mistreated the fatherless and the widow. 
• You have despised my holy things and desecrated my Sabbaths.
• In you are slanderous men bent on shedding blood;
• in you are those who eat at the mountain shrines and commit lewd acts.
• In you are those who dishonor their fathers' bed;
• in you are those who violate women during their period, when they are ceremonially unclean.
• In you one man commits a detestable offense with his neighbor's wife, another shamefully defiles his  daughter-in-law, and another violates his sister, his own  father's daughter.
• In you men accept bribes to shed blood;
• you take usury and  excessive interest and make unjust gain from your  neighbors by extortion.

And you have forgotten me, declares the Sovereign LORD.   

Here is a long list of the injustices committed by the princes of Israel. They expound on the sins of "sheding blood." None of these explicitly mention idolatry, but these sins display what happens when the princes forget YHWH Adonai ("Sovereign LORD".)

Of the list of "bloody" sins, most would be viewed as despicable acts today. But a few are strange to modern eyes. In Mosaic covenant, blood was always special, sacred, possibly unclean. Israelites were to drain the blood of a killed animal before eating it, so as to not be contaminated by the blood. (See Leviticus 17:10-14 for example.) Similarly a woman's menstrual blood made her unclean and having sex with a wife who was menstruating made the husband unclean. (See Leviticus 15:20-24, for example.)

Ezekiel 22:13-16, Dispersed among the nations

"`I will surely strike my hands together at the unjust gain you have made and at the blood you have shed in your midst. Will your courage endure or your hands be strong in the day I deal with you?

 

I the LORD have spoken, and I will do it. I will disperse you among the nations and scatter you through the countries; and I will put an end to your uncleanness. When you have been defiled in the eyes of the nations, you will know that I am the LORD.'"   

Hands struck together, a loud clap, form a dramatic noise to get attention. (See 21:14 for an earlier example.) The people of Judah, who have stubbornly insisting on perverting justice, will be dispersed in the coming exile.

Ezekiel 22:17-22, Dross

Then the word of the LORD came to me:

"Son of man, the house of Israel has become dross to me; all of them are the copper, tin, iron and lead left inside a furnace. They are but the dross of silver.  

Therefore this is what the Sovereign LORD says: `Because you have all become dross, I will gather you into Jerusalem. As men gather silver, copper, iron, lead and tin into a furnace to melt it with a fiery blast, so will I gather you in my anger and my wrath and put you inside the city and melt you. I will gather you and I will blow on you with my fiery wrath, and you will be melted inside her. As silver is melted in a furnace, so you will be melted inside her, and you will know that I the LORD have poured out my wrath upon you.'"   

This chapter has two rounds of accusations against Israel. The second round begins here. Dross is the name for the impurities left behind in metalworking. The house of Israel, says YHWH, has become dross, only to be gathered together and melted. (Duguid points out that the first set of accusations against Israel lead to "scattering" of the people among the nations; here their sins lead to a certain "gathering" for judgment. In these images, neither scattering nor gathering is a good thing....)

Ezekiel 22:23-29, The effects of idolatry

Again the word of the LORD came to me:

"Son of man, say to the land, `You are a land that has had no rain or showers in the day of wrath.' There is a conspiracy of her princes within her like a roaring lion tearing its prey;

• they devour people, take treasures and precious things and make many widows within  her.
• Her priests do violence to my law and profane my holy things;
• they do not distinguish between the holy and the common; they teach that there is no difference between the unclean and the clean;
• and they shut their eyes to the keeping of my Sabbaths, so that I am profaned among them.
• Her officials within her are like wolves tearing their prey; they shed blood and kill people to make unjust gain.
• Her prophets whitewash these deeds for them by false visions and lying divinations. They say, `This is what the Sovereign  LORD says'--when the LORD has not spoken.
• The people of the land practice extortion and commit robbery;
• they oppress the poor and needy
• and mistreat the alien, denying them justice.

In this second round of accusations against Jerusalem, another list is given, a list of evil actions of the princes who conspire to oppress the people and to ignore God. These wicked princes would have included kings like Manasseh (son of Hezekiah), Jehoiakim and eventually Zedekiah. This round of sins tends to focus on the "cultic" sins of idolatry. But clearly this list, the effect of idolatry, bleeds over into the first list that we read earlier.

The point of the entire chapter is that the coming judgment is well-deserved and should not be a surprise.

Ezekiel 22:30-31, Standing in the gap

"I looked for a man among them who would build up the wall and stand before me in the gap on behalf of the land so I would not have to destroy it, but I found none. So I will pour out my wrath on them and consume them with my  fiery anger, bringing down on their own heads all they have done, declares the Sovereign LORD." 

God looked for righteous men to protect the land but found none. In context this would have been a righteous ruler who, like King Josiah some decades back, had led the country into reformation.