←Ezekiel 7→BSB

In This Chapter 3 people 46 terms 1 resource

People

Israel 2 Jacob (Patriarch) Jeshurun (Israel)

Key Terms

To Profane 16 Abomination 14 Transgression 13 State of Impurity 4 Take Possession 4 Word of the Lord 3 Detested Thing 3 Counsel 3 Instruction 2 Abomination (Act) To Sin Sin Guilt (State) Sin (Act) Sin (Incur Guilt) Guilty (Responsible) Guilt (Consequence) Guiltiness Trespass (Sin) Sinful Sin (Offense) To Stand Guilty Sin (Guilty) Sin (Wrongdoing) Guilty Considered Guilty Guilty Of Sin Previously Sin Against Defilement (Act) Be Unclean Unclean (Ritually Contaminated) Uncleanness Impure Defile (Become Unclean) Impurity Unclean (Ritually Unacceptable) Defile (Ceremonial) To Soil Defilement (Stained) Desecrate Defilement (State) To Dishonor Dispossess Inherit Peace

Resources

Son of Man Articles

The Hour of Doom

ⓘ Ezekiel 7 contains three messages of doom (7:3–4,...

Ezekiel 7 contains three messages of doom (7:3–4, 5–9, 10–27). They reminded Judah that their forthcoming destruction was not a random twist of fate but an act of the Lord’s judgment.
ⓘ As the prophet unfolded his message, the scope...

As the prophet unfolded his message, the scope of the threatened judgment kept increasing, like ripples spreading outward from a stone dropped into a pond. Now the judgment he announced was not just for Israel, as in ch 6, but against the whole land, east, west, north, or south. This global judgment upon God’s people would be tantamount to the end of the world. Judgment was no longer imminent, as in the previous oracles; it had arrived.

1And the word of the LORD came to me, saying, 2“O son of man, this is what the Lord GOD says to the land of Israel:

‘The end! The end has comeupon the four corners of the land.
ⓘ There was no hope that God would change...
  • There was no hope that God would change his mind.
  • Then you will know that I am the Lord: When they received exactly what they deserved, the people would recognize the Lord’s power and holiness.
3The end is now upon you,and I will unleash My anger against you.I will judge you according to your waysand repay you for all your abominations.4I will not look on you with pity,nor will I spare you,but I will punish you for your waysand for the abominations among you.
Then you will know that I am the LORD.’
ⓘ A second message reiterates the personal nature of...

A second message reiterates the personal nature of the coming judgment. The people would not simply know that God is the Lord, as in 7:4. The Lord, who once showed himself to his people as “the Lord who heals you” (Exod 15:26), had now become “the Lord who strikes you.” The day of the Lord had come (Joel 1:15; Amos 5:18–20).
5This is what the Lord GOD says:
‘Disaster! An unprecedented disaster —†behold, it is coming!6The end has come!The end has come!It has roused itself against you.Behold, it has come!7Doom has come to you,O inhabitants of the land.The time has come;the day is near;there is panic on the mountainsinstead of shouts of joy.
8Very soon I will pour out My wrath upon youand vent My anger against you;I will judge you according to your waysand repay you for all your abominations.9I will not look on you with pity,nor will I spare you,but I will punish you for your waysand for the abominations among you.Then you will know that it is I, the LORD,who strikes the blow.
10Behold, the day is here!It has come!Doom has gone out,the rod has budded,arrogance has bloomed.11Their violence has grown into a rodto punish their wickedness.†None of them will remain:none of their multitude,none of their wealth,and nothing of value.
ⓘ Commercial transactions would lose their meaning. There would...

Commercial transactions would lose their meaning. There would be no such thing as a good deal or a bad deal; buyers and sellers alike would face God’s terrible anger.
ⓘ Comprehensive judgment is depicted in two parallel panels,...

Comprehensive judgment is depicted in two parallel panels, 7:12–18 and 7:19–27. Each begins with the futility of material gain in view of this impending judgment and moves through the arrival of war and its associated horrors to a declaration of universal ineffectiveness, terror, and mourning.
12The time has come;the day has arrived.Let the buyer not rejoiceand the seller not mourn,for wrath is upon the whole multitude.13The seller will surely not recover what he soldwhile both remain alive.For the vision concerning the whole multitudewill not be revoked,and because of their iniquity,not one of them will preserve his life.

The Desolation of Israel

14They have blown the trumpetand made everything ready,but no one goes to war,for My wrath is upon the whole multitude.15The sword is outside;plague and famine are within.Those in the country will die by the sword,and those in the city will be devouredby famine and plague.
16The survivors will escapeand live in the mountains,moaning like doves of the valley,each for his own iniquity.17Every hand will go limp,and every knee will turn to water.18They will put on sackcloth,and terror will overwhelm them.Shame will cover all their faces,and all their heads will be shaved.
19They will throw their silver into the streets,and their gold will seem unclean.Their silver and gold cannot save themin the day of the wrath of the LORD.They cannot satisfy their appetitesor fill their stomachs with wealth,for it became the stumbling blockthat brought their iniquity.
ⓘ Their formerly precious objects were contaminated and contaminating...
  • Their formerly precious objects were contaminated and contaminating because they were used to make detestable idols and vile images.
  • God would hand over his treasured land, the home of his sanctuary (Deut 12:5, 11), to brutal and ruthless pagans. Since Israel had repeatedly failed to distinguish between true and false places of worship, continued in pagan worship at the high places, and even brought idols into the Temple (Ezek 8), God would destroy the pagan centers of worship in the land and even in the Temple in Jerusalem. In the past God had defended Jerusalem against overwhelming odds (see 2 Kgs 18:1–19:37), but now he would abandon her to her well-deserved fate.
20His beautiful ornamentsthey transformed into prideand used them to fashiontheir vile images and detestable idols.Therefore I will make theseinto something unclean for them.21And I will hand these things overas plunder to foreignersand loot to the wicked of the earth,who will defile them.22I will turn My face away from them,and they will defile My treasured place.Violent men will enter it,and they will defile it.
ⓘ Neither religious authorities (prophets and priests) nor civil...

Neither religious authorities (prophets and priests) nor civil leaders (king or prince) could bring the peace the people were looking for. High-born and low-born alike would be helpless in facing their judgment. In the complete absence of guidance and direction, no hope would be left for the people.
23Forge the chain,for the land is full of crimes of bloodshed,and the city is full of violence.24So I will bring the most wicked of nationsto take possession of their houses.I will end the pride of the mighty,and their holy places will be profaned.
25Anguish is coming!They will seek peace, but find none.26Disaster upon disaster will come,and rumor after rumor.Then they will seek a vision from a prophet,but instruction from the priests will perish,as will counsel from the elders.27The king will mourn,the prince will be clothed with despair,and the hands of the people of the land will tremble.I will deal with them according to their conduct,and I will judge them by their own standards.
Then they will know that I am the LORD.’”