Ezekiel 20

Responsibility is one of the major themes of these four chapters. The Jewish exiles in Babylon were blaming their ancestors for the terrible judgment that had befallen them, so Ezekiel explained that God judges people individually for their own sins and not for somebody else’s sins (chap. 18). He then pointed out that the Jewish leaders were responsible for the foolish decisions they had made (chap. 19), and that the nation itself had a long history of irresponsibility (chap. 20). Finally, the prophet reminded his listeners that the Lord Jehovah also had a responsibility to be faithful to Himself and His covenant with the Jews, and this was why He had chastened them (chap. 21). By dealing with the subject of personal and national responsibility, Ezekiel was able to answer the frequent complaints of the people that the Lord was treating them unfairly.

Responsibility and accountability are needed themes in our own day. Irresponsibility is rampant, and very few people are willing to take the blame for wrongs committed or mistakes made. In his Devil’s Dictionary, the cynical Ambrose Bierce defined responsibility as “a detachable burden easily shifted to the shoulders of God, Fate, Fortune, luck, or one’s neighbor.” After our first parents sinned, Adam blamed Eve and Eve blamed the serpent, but God still held Adam and Eve responsible for their disobedience and punished them accordingly. The Jews in Ezekiel’s day were sure that God would deliver them and spare Jerusalem because Israel was God’s chosen people, but they forgot that privilege always brings responsibility. They had the greatest law ever given to a nation, but they disobeyed it. The Lord gave them a wonderful land for their home, and they defiled it with idolatry. They violated the terms of the divine covenant and then were shocked when the Lord obeyed the covenant and chastened them.

Ezekiel delivered this message on August 14, 591 BC, to some of the Jewish elders who came to his house to “inquire of the Lord.” But the prophet knew that their hearts were not right with God and that they had no right to ask the Lord for instruction (vv. 30–32; see 14:1–3; 33:30–33). A willingness to submit and obey is the mark of the person who can seek God’s guidance and expect to receive it. Ezekiel’s response to their request was to review the history of the nation of Israel and point out the repeated rebellion of the people and the gracious longsuffering of the Lord.

The American editor and writer Norman Cousins wrote in a Saturday Review editorial (April 15, 1978), “History is a vast early warning system.” But some anonymous thinker has said, “The one thing we learn from history is that we don’t learn from history”; or in the words of Dr. Laurence J. Peter, “History teaches us the mistakes we are going to make.” The Jewish historians, prophets, and psalmists were honest enough to declare the sins of the nation and write them down for future generations to read! Why? So that future generations wouldn’t make the same mistakes that they made. But, alas, God’s people haven’t begun to learn the lessons, let alone obey them.

Scripture teaches that God is working out His plan for the nations (Acts 14:14–18; 17:22–31; Dan. 5:21; 7:27) and that His people Israel are at the heart of that plan. Other nations are mentioned in Scripture primarily as they relate to Israel, for Israel is the only nation with whom God has entered into covenant relationship. At Sinai, after Israel left Egypt, God gave them His law (Ex. 19—24); and before they entered the Promised Land, He reaffirmed that law and gave them the terms of the covenant they had to obey in order to possess and enjoy the land (Deut. 5—8; 27—30). It was because they violated the terms of the covenants that Israel suffered as she did.

Before we review the history of Israel and the lessons we can learn from it, we must deal with an important matter of interpretation. In chapter 18, Ezekiel taught that the children were not punished for the sins of the fathers, but in this chapter, he seems to say that the past sins of the nation (carefully documented) were the cause of Israel’s failure and the Babylonian invasion. “Will you judge them, son of man, will you judge them? Then make known to them the abominations of their fathers” (20: nkjv). This statement from the Lord suggests that God was judging the Jews because of what their fathers had done.

But that wasn’t what the Lord was saying to Ezekiel. By reviewing the history of the nation, God was judging that current generation because they were guilty of the same sins of unbelief and rebellion. Jeremiah said that his generation of Jews was even worse than their fathers (Jer. 16:12)! In this historical summary, God proved that He had been consistent in His dealings with the Jews. The exiles had complained that God had not treated Israel fairly (Ezek. 18:2, 19, 25, 29), but their national history proved that God was not only fair with them but also very longsuffering and merciful. God wasn’t punishing the Jews in Ezekiel’s day because of the sins their fathers committed centuries before but because Ezekiel’s contemporaries had committed the very same sins! That’s why God reviewed the history of Israel.

Israel in Egypt (vv. 5–8). God “chose” the nation of Israel when He called Abraham to leave Ur of the Chaldees and go to the land of Canaan (Gen. 12), but the nation didn’t even exist at that time. God built the nation in the land of Egypt. When Jacob’s family entered into Egypt, they numbered sixty-six people; Joseph’s family was already in Egypt and they brought the total to seventy (Gen. 46). But when the Jews left Egypt at the Exodus, the fighting men alone numbered over six hundred thousand (Num. 1:46), so there may well have been over two million people in the nation. In Egypt, God revealed Himself to the Jews through the ministry of Moses and Aaron as well as through the terrible judgments He inflicted on the land of Egypt. He made it clear that the gods of the Gentile nations were only myths and had no power to do either good or evil. God reminded them how He had judged these false gods in Egypt and proved them to be helpless nothings. (See Ex. 12:12; Num. 33:4.)

However, while living in Egypt, the Jews began secretly to worship the gods of the Egyptians. After all, if the Egyptians were masters over the Jews, then the gods of Egypt must be stronger than the God of Israel! The Jews defiled themselves with the gods of Egypt and grieved the heart of God. When God opened the way for Israel to leave Egypt, some of the Jews took their Egyptian gods with them! God had sworn by an oath (“lifted up my hand”) that He was Israel’s God (v. 5) and that He would set them free and give them the Promised Land (v. 6). The true God set them free, but they carried false gods with them! The nation rebelled against God even after He demonstrated His grace and power in delivering them!

Israel’s exodus from Egypt (vv. 9–10). The Lord had every reason to pour out His wrath on Israel, but for His name’s sake, He rescued His people. God often worked on Israel’s behalf, not because they deserved it but for the glory of His own name (vv. 14, 22, 44; see Isa. 48:9; 66:5), just as He has saved His church today “to the praise of his glory” (Eph. 1:6, 12, 14). The account of the exodus did go before the Jews as they marched toward the Promised Land (Josh. 2:10), and it did bring glory to God’s name.

Israel at Sinai (vv. 11–12). Israel tarried about two years at Sinai, where God revealed His glory and gave them His laws. While they tarried there, Moses directed the construction of the tabernacle and its furniture. But even after seeing God’s glory and hearing His voice, Israel rebelled against Him by making and worshipping a golden calf (Ex. 32). God gave them the Sabbath day (the seventh day of the week) as a sign to remind them that they belonged to Him. By setting aside that one day each week to honor the Lord, Israel witnessed to the other peoples that they were a special nation, but they persisted in polluting the Sabbath and treating it like any other day (vv. 13, 16, 20).

The law that God gave Israel at Sinai consisted of statutes and ordinances governing every area of life: their civic responsibilities, the maintaining of courts and judges, the punishment of offenders, and the responsibilities of the people and their priests in the religious life of the nation. But because Israel was a theocracy and God was their King, every law had its religious implications. To break the law was to sin against the Lord, and the people did it frequently.

Those who obeyed God’s law would “live” (Ezek. 19:11, 13, 21), an important word we considered in chapter 18 (vv. 9, 17, 19, 21, 28). It refers to physical life, not being subject to capital punishment because of deliberate disobedience to God’s statutes. But for the Jew who loved the Lord, trusted Him, and obeyed Him, it included the spiritual life that comes to all who believe. Romans 10: and Galatians 3: make it clear that nobody is saved simply by obeying the law; but those who trust the Lord will prove their faith by their obedience. Religious people like the Pharisees have a “law righteousness,” but those who trust Christ have a “faith righteousness” that enables them to obey God’s will (Phil. 3:1–16; Rom. 10). Salvation is always by faith (Heb. 11:6), and this faith always issues in good works and obedience.

Israel in the wilderness (vv. 13–26). After leaving Sinai, the Jews marched to Kadesh Barnea, where the Lord told them to enter Canaan and claim their promised inheritance (Num. 13—14). He had already searched out the land (Ezek. 19:6), but the people insisted on sending in a representative from each of the twelve tribes to scout out the land. They searched the land for forty days, and all of the men agreed that the land was exactly as God described it; but ten of the spies said that God wasn’t great enough to enable Israel to conquer it! This led to God’s judgment that the nation would wander in the wilderness for forty years and that everyone twenty years old and older would die during that time (Num. 14). You would have thought that the Jews had learned their lesson by now, but even during the wilderness wandering, they rebelled against God and He had to punish them. Once again, it was for the glory of His name that He didn’t destroy them and start a new nation with Moses as the father (vv. 11–21). At the end of the forty years, Moses prepared the new generation to enter the land by reviewing the law and the covenants, as recorded in Deuteronomy.

Israel in the Promised Land (vv. 27–30). Joshua brought the people into Canaan and led them in the defeat of the enemy and the claiming of the land. Before he died, he directed the assigning of the land to the various tribes, and encouraged them to claim their land. Moses had commanded the people to wipe out the godless religion of the inhabitants of the land (Ex. 34:11–17; Deut. 7), and warned them that if they failed to obey, their children would become idolaters and lose the Promised Land. Of course, that’s exactly what happened. The people lusted after the gods of the land and participated in the filthy rites of heathen worship in the high places (Ezek. 19:28–29; see Deut. 18:9–14; Lev. 18:26–30). Instead of winning the Canaanites to faith in the true and living God, the Jewish people began to live like their enemies and worship their gods! They even offered their children as sacrifices to the pagan gods (Ezek. 19:26, 31), something that was expressly forbidden in the law of Moses (2 Kings 21:6; 2 Chron. 28:3; Lev. 18:21; Deut. 12:31; 18:10). Children are a gift from God, and His precious gifts must not be used as heathen sacrifices!

Israel in exile in Babylon (vv. 31–32). This is the practical application of the message to the people of Ezekiel’s generation: they were living just like their fathers! “Even unto this day” they were sinning against the Lord! Ignoring their privilege of being God’s special people (Num. 23:9), their fathers wanted to be like the pagan nations in their worship and in their leadership (1 Sam. 8:5); and God let them have their way and then punished them. “When in Babylon, do as the Babylonians do” was the philosophy of the exiles, but they had been idolaters long before they went into exile.

Israel’s future kingdom (vv. 33–44). Ezekiel had made it very clear to the elders why they weren’t qualified to inquire of God, but he didn’t end his message there. God in His grace gave him a message of hope for the people, though they certainly didn’t deserve it. Ezekiel described a future “exodus” of the Jewish people from the nations of the world, a return to their own land which God swore to give them. He even used the same descriptive phrase Moses used when he spoke about the Exodus—“a mighty hand … an outstretched arm” (vv. 33–34; Deut. 4:34; 5:15; 7:19; 11:2). The “I will” statements of the Lord reveal both His mercy and His power.

“I will bring you out” (Ezek. 20:34) implies much more than the release of the exiles from Babylon. It speaks of a future regathering of Israel from the nations of the world to which they have been scattered (Deut. 30:1–8). God promises to bring them out, but He also says He will “bring them into the wilderness” (Ezek. 20:35–36) where He will deal with their sins and cleanse them of their rebellion (36:24–25; Hos. 2:14–15). His next promise is “I will bring you into the bond of the covenant” (Ezek. 20:37), teaching that Israel will be restored to her covenant relationship to the Lord and will experience the blessings of the new covenant (18:31; 36:26–27). “I will purge out the rebels” (20:38), and they will not be allowed to enter the land of Israel and enjoy the blessings of the messianic kingdom.

As for the true believers who receive their Messiah, God declares, “I will accept them” (v. 40). God will establish a sanctified nation that will worship Him in holiness (v. 41). As the result of this new covenant and new spiritual experience in their hearts, the people will come to know their God (v. 42) as well as know themselves and loathe themselves for the terrible sins they have committed (v. 43). No longer will they blame their fathers! They will come to know the grace of God, for all the blessing He showers on the nation will be for His name’s sake and not because of any merit on their part (v. 44).

The experiences described in verses 33–44 cannot be applied to the return of the Jewish exiles to the land of Judah in 538 BC. This was not an exodus from many countries nor did it result in the glorious restoration of the Jewish nation. We have to apply this paragraph to that time in the future that Ezekiel describes in chapters 33 to 48, when Christ will return and the promised kingdom will be established.

In the Hebrew Scriptures, chapter 21 begins with 20:45, and this is the best arrangement, for 20:45–49 introduces the coming judgment on Judah and Jerusalem. Ezekiel has explained the individual responsibility of the people and their leaders and the national responsibility of Israel. Now he focuses on the fact that God has a responsibility to punish His people when they rebel against Him. He must be true to His character and true to His covenant.

God identifies the target (20:45–49). Frequently in this book, God commanded His servant to “set his face” against something or someone (v. 46; 13:17; 21:2; 25:2; 28:21; 29:2; 35:2; 38:2). This was one way to point out the “target” at which His judgment would be hurled, in this case, Judah and Jerusalem (21:1–2). The prophet assumed a posture of stern judgment as he announced that threatened judgment was about to fall against “the south” (the Negev), and Judah and Jerusalem were in the territory south of Babylon. Using the image of a forest fire, he described the invasion of the Babylonians and the destruction of the Jewish nation. When you study chapter 21, you learn that the fire represents the deadly swords of the soldiers and that the “south” represents Judah and Jerusalem. According to Ezekiel 20:1, it was the year 591 BC when he gave these messages, so in five years, the Babylonians would set fire to the Holy City and the temple. During Israel’s wilderness wanderings, God didn’t severely punish His people for their rebellion because He wanted to honor His name before the Gentiles (20:14, 22, 44); but now He would honor His name by burning their city and temple and sending them into exile.

God draws the sword (21:1–7). The word sword is used nineteen times in this chapter to represent the invasion and attack of the Babylonian army. God has His eye on three targets: the land of Judah, the city of Jerusalem, and the holy place of the temple. Unfortunately, some of the righteous would suffer along with the wicked, but this is often the case in times of war. Note that God declared that it was “my sword,” because it was He who summoned the Babylonian army to punish His sinful people. If His own people won’t obey Him, at least the pagan nations will!

At this point, God commanded Ezekiel to perform another “action sermon” by groaning like a man experiencing great pain and grief. When the people asked him why he was groaning so, he would tell them, “Because of the bad news that is coming,” referring to the news of the fall of Jerusalem. The news didn’t come until January 8, 585 BC (33:21–22), five months after the city had been burned, which was August 14, 586 BC; but the Lord told Ezekiel that the news was coming. The exiles nurtured the false hope that the Lord would spare the city and the temple, but everything the Lord had prophesied would come to pass.

God sharpens His sword (21:8–17). In this second “action sermon,” Ezekiel not only cried and wailed (v. 12), but he smote his thigh and clapped his hands together (vv. 14, 17). It’s possible that he was also brandishing a sword as he spoke, although the text doesn’t state this. The Lord was preparing the Babylonian army to be effective and efficient in carrying out His plans. Despising the king of Judah (v. 13), the sword of Babylon would turn Judah’s scepter into nothing but a stick (v. 10)! The invading soldiers would be so effective that one swordsman would do the work of three (v. 14), and for the Jews there would be no escape (v. 16). Even the Lord would applaud the soldiers as they executed the judgment that He had ordained (v. 17). Perhaps some of the Jews recalled Ezekiel’s previous “action sermon” using the sword (5:1–4).

God directs the army (21:18–27). The pagan nations of that day used many forms of divination to discern the will of the gods, and Ezekiel pictured the Babylonian army at a fork in the road, trying to discover which way to go. Should they go to Rabbath, the capital of Ammon, and attack the Ammonites; or should they go to Jerusalem to attack the Jews? When the Lord told Ezekiel to “mark [appoint] two ways,” he probably sketched on the ground a map of the roads looking like an inverted Y, and at the juncture stuck a “signpost” into the ground. (Remember his plan of Jerusalem drawn on a wet clay brick—4:1–8?) It was God’s will that the army attack Jerusalem, so He overruled the soothsayers and diviners and made sure their decision was for Jerusalem. This doesn’t mean that their system of divining was accurate or even proper, but that the Lord used it to accomplish His purposes.

Nebuchadnezzar decided to attack Jerusalem, so he appointed his captains and made his plans. The people in Jerusalem were hoping he would attack the Ammonites, and when the word came that Jerusalem was his target, they hoped the diviners would say they had made a mistake. But God was in control and there had been no mistake. King Zedekiah had sworn an oath of allegiance to Nebuchadnezzar and had broken it (21:23; 2 Kings 24:20), and Nebuchadnezzar would not stand for this kind of rebellion from a weak vassal state. Zedekiah’s sins had finally caught up with him (Ezek. 21:24).

Ezekiel paused to give a special message to Zedekiah, whom he refuses to call a king but refers to as a prince. He calls him profane and wicked, a man who has committed iniquity and will suffer because of it. He would lose his crown and his throne. The day had arrived when God would turn everything upside down. Those who were “great and mighty” would be humbled, and those who were humble would be exalted. The word translated “overturn” (“ruin” niv) is awwa, and we can just hear Ezekiel lamenting: “Awwa—awwa—awwa!”

But once again, the Lord added a brief word of hope: the Messiah would one day come, the true Son of David and Israel’s King, and would claim the Davidic crown and reign over His people (v. 27). The phrase “whose right it is” takes us back to Genesis 49:8–12, a messianic promise that we met in Ezekiel 19 when we studied the images of the lion and the vine.

God completes the task (21:28–32). But what about the Ammonites? When the Lord directed the Babylonian army to Jerusalem, did this mean He would not judge the Ammonites for their sins against Him and the Jewish people? They would rejoice to see Babylon ravage the land of Judah and set fire to Jerusalem and the temple. (See Ezek. 25.) Along with Judah and the other nations, Ammon had joined the alliance against Babylon (Jer. 27:1ff.), so Ammon had to be punished. Their own false prophets and diviners would give them a false hope that they had been spared (Ezek. 21:29), but God hadn’t told Nebuchadnezzar to put his sword in its sheath (v. 30). The message closed with another fire (see 20:47–48), but this time a furnace in which ore was smelted. God would “blow” against the furnace and make it hotter, and then He would pour out the molten metal on His enemies. The Ammonites would become fuel for the fire, and the nation would disappear from the earth.

We come away from the study of chapters 18 to 21 with a fresh realization of the tragedy of rebellion against the Lord. Israel had a long history of rebellion, but the other nations weren’t any better, except that Israel was sinning against the light of God’s Word and His providential care over His people. If any people had the obligation to obey and serve the Lord, it was Israel, for the Lord had blessed them abundantly. Instead of becoming a holy nation to the glory of God, she became like all the other nations and failed to be God’s light to the Gentiles.

And yet, woven throughout this series of messages is the theme of Israel’s hope. The prophet reminded them that God had promised to regather them from the Gentile nations and give them their King and their kingdom. Historically speaking, weak King Zedekiah was the last ruler in the Davidic dynasty, but not prophetically speaking; for Jesus Christ, the Son of David (Matt. 1:1), will one day come and reign from David’s throne. Ezekiel will discuss that theme in detail before he completes his book.

Under “Query 18” in his Notes on the State of Virginia, Thomas Jefferson wrote, “Indeed I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just.” Ezekiel has defended the justice of God and magnified the mercy and grace of God. What more could he do?