EZEKIEL LESSON 24


     We will begin this lesson in Ezekiel 22:1 "Moreover the word of
the LORD came unto me, saying,"

     This is the beginning of another prophecy.

     Ezekiel 22:2 "Now, thou son of man, wilt thou judge, wilt thou
judge the bloody city? yea, thou shalt shew her all her abominations."

     The bloody city is speaking of Jerusalem. Ezekiel is to speak the
judgement upon her. This is saying, that Ezekiel is to specifically
mention her revolting sins to her.

     Ezekiel 22:3 "Then say thou, Thus saith the Lord GOD, The city
sheddeth blood in the midst of it, that her time may come, and maketh
idols against herself to defile herself."

     Isaiah and Jeremiah had said similar things about Jerusalem. The
uppermost sin is the making of these idols, and worshipping false
gods.

     Ezekiel 22:4 "Thou art become guilty in thy blood that thou hast
shed; and hast defiled thyself in thine idols which thou hast made;
and thou hast caused thy days to draw near, and art come [even] unto
thy years: therefore have I made thee a reproach unto the heathen, and
a mocking to all countries."

     Their terrible sins have brought the destruction about, even
sooner than it would have come. The more they worship false gods, the
angrier He got. The angrier He got, the sooner the punishment came.
They have come to the end of God's patience. He has judged them
guilty, and deserving death. The heathen around them, that had such
great awe of them and their God are now thinking of them in a
degrading way.  They have no respect for them. This lack of respect is
because they are so evil. Their God has turned against them.

     Ezekiel 22:5 "[Those that be] near, and [those that be] far from
thee, shall mock thee, [which art] infamous [and] much vexed."

     This is speaking of the cities that began to speak badly about
Jerusalem. They were famous, now they are infamous. They would not be
so brave to say these things, if it had not become apparent to
everyone that God had left them.

     Ezekiel 22:6 "Behold, the princes of Israel, every one were in
thee to their power to shed blood."

     The princes, that were so well known for the blood they had shed,
were Jehoiakim and Manasseh. Of course, all of those who were evil
were included in this. There were very few recent kings who had
pleased God.

     Ezekiel 22:7 "In thee have they set light by father and mother:
in the midst of thee have they dealt by oppression with the stranger:
in thee have they vexed the fatherless and the widow."

     We, now, see some of the things that God had against them, other
than the fact that they worshipped false gods, and caused the people
to do the same. God had always protected the fatherless and the widow.
This was a sin, He would not overlook.

     Ezekiel 22:8 "Thou hast despised mine holy things, and hast
profaned my sabbaths."

     This speaks of their disrespect for the temple, and things in the
temple. They had not felt a need to keep the Sabbath holy, as well.

     Ezekiel 22:9 "In thee are men that carry tales to shed blood: and
in thee they eat upon the mountains: in the midst of thee they commit
lewdness."

     We see the widespread sins they have committed. This mountain
worship, many times, included promiscuous sex. That is what is meant
by the "lewdness". It seems, they were talebearers, and not
necessarily carrying the truth.

     Ezekiel 22:10 "In thee have they discovered their fathers'
nakedness: in thee have they humbled her that was set apart for
pollution."

     This is speaking of incest, and even homosexuality. Members of a
family committing sexual sin among themselves. They, generally, shaved
the head of an adulterous woman, if they did not stone her to death.
This is speaking of many committing this sinful act with an adulterous
woman. These very same sins are very prevalent in our society today.
God will not always overlook such sin.

     Ezekiel 22:11 "And one hath committed abomination with his
neighbour's wife; and another hath lewdly defiled his daughter in law;
and another in thee hath humbled his sister, his father's daughter."

     This type of sexual act {incest} is strictly forbidden in God's
law. To sleep with all these people, was strictly forbidden.

     Ezekiel 22:12 "In thee have they taken gifts to shed blood; thou
hast taken usury and increase, and thou hast greedily gained of thy
neighbours by extortion, and hast forgotten me, saith the Lord GOD."

     The first mention, here, is of a hired killer. The other sins are
taking great advantage of those less fortunate than themselves. This
is like they have gone through the ordinances in Leviticus against
these sins, and then, have committed every one of them. This is total
rebellion against God and His teachings.

     Ezekiel 22:13  "Behold, therefore I have smitten mine hand at thy
dishonest gain which thou hast made, and at thy blood which hath been
in the midst of thee."

     God will not bless a people who are committing these sins. God
has struck out at {smitten} those who gain in these ways.

     Ezekiel 22:14 "Can thine heart endure, or can thine hands be
strong, in the days that I shall deal with thee? I the LORD have
spoken [it], and will do [it]."

     God will pour out His fire of chastisement on them to cleanse
them from this filthiness. He will leave a remnant, however. We see
that God never totally destroys Israel, as He did the Ammonites.

     Ezekiel 22:15 "And I will scatter thee among the heathen, and
disperse thee in the countries, and will consume thy filthiness out of
thee."

     This entire captivity of the Israelites was to cleanse them from
their sins. The only time they seemed to repent and turn to God, was
when they were in dire circumstances.

     Ezekiel 22:16 "And thou shalt take thine inheritance in thyself
in the sight of the heathen, and thou shalt know that I [am] the
LORD."

     The land, and the wealth in that land, are gone. The only thing
they will have, is their flesh. All of this is to show His people that
there is no other god. He is the LORD. He is God. The only help they
have, or for that matter, any of us have, is in the LORD.

     Ezekiel 22:17 "And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,"

     There is a break in the prophecy here, for a new thought.

     Ezekiel 22:18 "Son of man, the house of Israel is to me become
dross: all they [are] brass, and tin, and iron, and lead, in the midst
of the furnace; they are [even] the dross of silver."

     When you heat gold, or silver, the dross comes to the top and is
skimmed off and thrown away. Sometimes, the alloy in silver, or gold,
is brass, tin, iron, or lead. This is saying then that these
Israelites are no longer "silver" {redeemed}. They are the cast away
"brass" {judgement}. God has judged them, and found them not to be
pure.  "Silver" means redemption. It is a beautiful, white metal. They
have tarnished that silver, and are now baser metal, of not much
value. Most of the base metals mentioned above are hardeners.  They
certainly have become hard, and, in effect, of no use to God. They had
pretended to be right with God, because they looked like silver.  When
the heat was applied, it was apparent they were of a base metal, or
dross.

     Ezekiel 22:19 "Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Because ye are
all become dross, behold, therefore I will gather you into the midst
of Jerusalem."
     Dross is generally skimmed off the silver and thrown away. In a
sense, that is what God has done here. He has cast them away. God will
deal with the dross {Israel} in His own way.

     Ezekiel 22:20 "[As] they gather silver, and brass, and iron, and
lead, and tin, into the midst of the furnace, to blow the fire upon
it, to melt [it]; so will I gather [you] in mine anger and in my fury,
and I will leave [you there], and melt you."

     This is the same thing that Jesus speaks of about separating the
wheat from the chaff. They are mixed up together, and sometimes it is
hard to tell which is which. The heat will separate them. God is
saying, He will separate the evil from those that are to be saved.

     Ezekiel 22:21 "Yea, I will gather you, and blow upon you in the
fire of my wrath, and ye shall be melted in the midst thereof."

     It takes 2200 degrees of heat to melt silver. We see, then, the
heat will be very intense. This judgement God brings is a severe
judgement. He must separate those of pure silver from the dross.

     Ezekiel 22:22 "As silver is melted in the midst of the furnace,
so shall ye be melted in the midst thereof; and ye shall know that I
the LORD have poured out my fury upon you."

     We must look back to another lesson, where we learned that the
problems from the judgement came on the just and the unjust. The heat
is applied on all. The silver just becomes more pure with the heat.
The dross is destroyed. This is what happens to people. When the
troubles come, those of God become more pure with the testing. Those
not of God are exposed and done away with. This is the LORD who poured
out His fury. It is the LORD who separates.

     Ezekiel 22:23  "And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,"

     We see another momentary break with this new statement.

     Ezekiel 22:24 "Son of man, say unto her, Thou [art] the land that
is not cleansed, nor rained upon in the day of indignation."

     Here, in this particular instance, is the city of Jerusalem and
the land of Israel. Now, we see one of the reasons for the famine. The
sun has not shone and it has not rained to cause a crop to grow,
during the duration of God' indignation.

     Ezekiel 22:25 "[There is] a conspiracy of her prophets in the
midst thereof, like a roaring lion ravening the prey; they have
devoured souls; they have taken the treasure and precious things; they
have made her many widows in the midst thereof."

     The false prophets were prophets for money. They had no regard
for God, His temple, His ways, or His people. They were self-made
prophets, because it was profitable to them. The roaring of the lion
is sometimes associated with Satan. He goes through the earth, as a
roaring lion, seeking whom he may destroy. These false prophets are
doing the same thing. They prophesy lies and do it loudly, so everyone
can hear.

     Ezekiel 22:26 "Her priests have violated my law, and have
profaned mine holy things: they have put no difference between the
holy and profane, neither have they shewed [difference] between the
unclean and the clean, and have hid their eyes from my sabbaths, and I
am profaned among them."

     In an earlier lesson, we remember the priests and elders had
idols in their private quarters in the temple area. They had turned
from the worship of the one true God, to idols and worship of false
gods. The terrible thing is that they are leaders, and they lead
others into this worship of false gods. There is one word that covers
this perfectly. Compromise is that word. They had compromised God, and
thought of the false gods on an equal basis with God. They had done
exactly what many of our churches of today have done. They have
brought the world into the church. The temple was to be holy, and set
aside for the purposes of God alone.

     Ezekiel 22:27 "Her princes in the midst thereof [are] like wolves
ravening the prey, to shed blood, [and] to destroy souls, to get
dishonest gain."

     The society, all of this describes, is far too similar to our
society for me. I am very uncomfortable, when I read of the leaders
compromising for selfish gain. The princes were their leaders in
government. They destroy the people to get what they want.

     Ezekiel 22:28 "And her prophets have daubed them with untempered
[mortar], seeing vanity, and divining lies unto them, saying, Thus
saith the Lord GOD, when the LORD hath not spoken."

     The prophets are not building a solid wall of separation from
this worldliness. They are just daubing at fixing the problems. They
are really looking to the world and false gods for answers. The only
real Truth is in God and in His Word. These prophets, getting their
messages from the world, are pretending their messages are from God.
God will not compromise with the world. These messages of compromise
are not from Him.

     Ezekiel 22:29 "The people of the land have used oppression, and
exercised robbery, and have vexed the poor and needy: yea, they have
oppressed the stranger wrongfully."

     This states that not only have the political leaders and the
religious leaders been caught up in greed, but the common people as
well. They cheat each other to satisfy their greed. They have no
compassion on those in need. They think only of themselves.

     Ezekiel 22:30 "And I sought for a man among them, that should
make up the hedge, and stand in the gap before me for the land, that I
should not destroy it: but I found none."
     We see something, here, similar to Sodom and Gomorrah. God could
not find 10 righteous there, so He destroyed them. We see that in
Israel, there was not even one who was righteous enough to intercede
before God for them. There was no one holy enough to stand in the gap
for them. The only possible result of this, is that God will destroy
it. Perhaps, this is why a few years later God sent Jesus to the earth
to be our substitute. The depravity of man is an on-going thing. We
all deserve to die for our sins. Praise God! Jesus paid our penalty of
death for us.

     Ezekiel 22:31 "Therefore have I poured out mine indignation upon
them; I have consumed them with the fire of my wrath: their own way
have I recompensed upon their heads, saith the Lord GOD."

     God had no choice. He had to punish them. They brought this
terrible judgement on themselves. To be just, God had to destroy them.
His mercy kept a remnant alive to begin again. All have sinned, and
come short of the glory of God. God's grace saved some.




































                         Ezekiel 24 Questions


1.  What is the bloody city in verse 2?
2.  What is Ezekiel to specifically mention to her?
3.  What other prophets had said similar things about Jerusalem?
4.  What had their terrible sins done?
5.  They have come to the end of God's ___________.
6.  The heathen had lost __________ for them.
7.  Who were the princes, in verse 6, speaking of, probably.
8.  What was mentioned as a sin they committed in verse 7?
9.  What is verse 8 speaking of?
10. What was part of the very sinful mountain worship?
11. Verse 10 is speaking of ________ and ____________.
12. What generally happened to an adulterous woman?
13. What were the sins mentioned, in verse 11, that God strictly
    forbids?
14. What is the very first thing, in verse 12, speaking of?
15. How had they greedily gained from their neighbors?
16. God will pour out His fire on them in way of ____________.
17. Will He destroy them all?
18. Their land and wealth is gone, the only thing they have left is
    ________________.
19. What should the chastisement show them, and, in fact, everyone?
20. What is dross?
21. What metals are classified as dross?
22. What happens to the dross, when extreme heat is put on silver?
23. What does "silver" mean?
24. What does "brass" symbolize?
25. They looked like silver, which meant what?
26. What happened to them, that was similar to what happens to dross?
27. What verse is speaking of the same thing as Jesus separating the
    wheat from the chaff?
28. How many degrees does it take to melt silver?
29. The problems come on the _______ and the ___________.
30. What was the reason for the famine?
31. The false prophets were prophets for __________.
32. Who is associated with the roaring of the lion?
33. What sin had the priests and elders committed?
34. This society then, reminds the author of whom?
35. How many men could God find to stand in the gap for them?