Ezekiel · chapter 22 of 48
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Ezekiel 22 accuses Jerusalem, the bloody city, of violence, idolatry, injustice and contempt for holy things. The Lord compares her to dross in a furnace, to be melted, and reviews the guilt of prophets, priests, princes and people. It ends by saying he looked for someone to stand in the breach on behalf of the land and found no one.
Ezekiel 22 is a formal accusation against Jerusalem, almost a trial. After the sword of chapter 21, here the reasons for the punishment are listed. It is a chapter that shows that sin is not only religious but also social: shed blood, oppression of the weak and contempt for holy things go together.
The Lord tells Ezekiel to judge the bloody city and make known to her all her abominations. She has shed blood and defiled herself with idols, and so her day has come. The city's sins are listed: her princes shed blood, father and mother are treated with contempt, the sojourner, the fatherless and the widow are oppressed, Sabbaths and holy things are profaned, and there is slander, idolatry, immorality, bribery and usury. God says he will strike his hands at their dishonest gain and at the blood. He will scatter them among the nations and purge their uncleanness.
Then the Lord says the house of Israel has become dross: all of them are bronze, tin, iron and lead in a furnace, dross of silver. So he will gather them in Jerusalem as silver is gathered in a furnace to be melted, and blow on them with the fire of his wrath.
Ezekiel must tell the land that it has not been cleansed or rained upon in the day of indignation. The sins of each group are described: the prophets, like a roaring lion, devour lives and take treasure; the priests have done violence to the law and profaned what is holy, making no distinction between holy and common; the princes are like wolves tearing the prey to get unjust gain; the prophets whitewash with false visions; and the people of the land practice extortion and robbery, and oppress the poor and the sojourner.
The Lord looked among them for a man to build up the wall and stand in the breach before him for the land, that he should not destroy it, but he found none. So he will pour out his indignation on them and bring their way upon their own heads.
References follow ESV book names and verse numbers. Read each verse in your Bible before the explanation.
The Lord tells Ezekiel to judge the bloody city and make known her abominations. The city that was to be holy has become a city of violence.
Israel has become dross to the Lord: what should have been silver is the impurity left in the furnace. The image shows that judgment is a fire that seeks to purify, though it hurts.
The priests have done violence to the law and profaned holy things, making no distinction between the holy and the common. When spiritual guides confuse the sacred with the ordinary, the whole people lose their way.
The Lord looks for someone to stand in the breach of the wall to intercede for the land, and finds no one. It is one of the most moving lines in the book: God waits for an intercessor.
6 questions with answers and references, ready for Sunday school, small group or a Bible quiz night.
Answer: The bloody city. — Ezekiel 22:2
Answer: The sojourner, the fatherless and the widow. — Ezekiel 22:7
Answer: Dross, like the leftover metals in a silver furnace. — Ezekiel 22:18
Answer: They did violence to the law and profaned what is holy, making no distinction between holy and common. — Ezekiel 22:26
Answer: Wolves tearing the prey, shedding blood to get unjust gain. — Ezekiel 22:27
Answer: Someone to build up the wall and stand in the breach before him for the land. — Ezekiel 22:30
Ezekiel 22 joins the spiritual with the social: one cannot worship God and oppress the weak. This chapter invites churches to examine how they treat the sojourner, the fatherless and the widow, and whether their leaders distinguish the holy from the common.
The last scene is an invitation: God looks for someone to stand in the breach. Jesus is the perfect intercessor, but we too are called to pray and act on behalf of others. In the group, ask where there is a breach in your church or community and how you can stand in it with prayer and service.
Ezekiel 22 shows the guilt of all of Jerusalem's society and the search for an intercessor who is not found. In chapter 23 the prophet will tell a new allegory of two sisters who represent Samaria and Jerusalem.
It is a military image: when a wall was broken, a defender took his place in the opening to keep the enemy out. Applied to prayer, it means interceding before God on behalf of others. Psalm 106:23 uses it to describe Moses.
In smelting, dross is the impurity separated from the precious metal. God says that instead of silver Israel has become a mass of impurities. The furnace is the place of judgment, and the passage sees in it a painful purification.