Ezekiel 22:1-31
Q.1. Why was God so angry with Judah? What did He desire the chastening of His people to produce? – (Ezk.22:1-22)
God could endure Judah’s sins no longer – 4 You have become guilty by the blood which you have shed and defiled by your idols which you have made … 7 They have treated father and mother lightly within you. The alien they have oppressed in your midst; the fatherless and the widow they have wronged in you. 8 You have despised My holy things and profaned My Sabbaths … and you have forgotten Me, declares the Lord (Ezk.22:4, 7-8, 12). Consequently, God was about to pour out His wrath upon His people, in order to cleanse their hearts, so that they would acknowledge the Lord once more – 15 I will scatter you among the nations and I will disperse you through the lands, and I will consume your uncleanness from you. 16 You will profane yourself in the sight of the nations, and you will know that I am the Lord (2 Kgs.22:15-16).
Q.2. Of what sins were the prophets and priests of Judah guilty? What was God seeking from His servants? – (Ezk.22:23-31)
The false prophets and princes had devoured precious lives, and the priests had profaned the holy things – … they have made no distinction between the holy and the profane, and they have not taught the difference between the unclean and the clean; and they hide their eyes from My sabbaths, and I am profaned among them (Ezk.22:26). There had been a conspiracy to do evil, which brought visions – when the Lord has not spoken (Ezk.22:28). God had left no stone unturned to call these people back – I searched for a man among them who would build up the wall and stand in the gap before Me for the land, so that I would not destroy it; but I found no one! (Ezk.22:30). Apart from the Bible’s true messengers, no one of substance stood up to turn the leaders around. This meant that there was no remedy (Ezk.22:31).