Ezekiel 22 Blood and dross

seekeroftruth

Well-Known Member
Ezekiel 22:1 The word of the Lord came to me:
2 “Son of man, will you judge her? Will you judge this city of bloodshed? Then confront her with all her detestable practices 3 and say: ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: You city that brings on herself doom by shedding blood in her midst and defiles herself by making idols, 4 you have become guilty because of the blood you have shed and have become defiled by the idols you have made. You have brought your days to a close, and the end of your years has come. Therefore I will make you an object of scorn to the nations and a laughingstock to all the countries. 5 Those who are near and those who are far away will mock you, you infamous city, full of turmoil.
6 “‘See how each of the princes of Israel who are in you uses his power to shed blood. 7 In you they have treated father and mother with contempt; in you they have oppressed the foreigner and mistreated the fatherless and the widow. 8 You have despised my holy things and desecrated my Sabbaths. 9 In you are slanderers who are bent on shedding blood; in you are those who eat at the mountain shrines and commit lewd acts. 10 In you are those who dishonor their father’s bed; in you are those who violate women during their period, when they are ceremonially unclean. 11 In you one man commits a detestable offense with his neighbor’s wife, another shamefully defiles his daughter-in-law, and another violates his sister, his own father’s daughter. 12 In you are people who accept bribes to shed blood; you take interest and make a profit from the poor. You extort unjust gain from your neighbors. And you have forgotten me, declares the Sovereign Lord.
13 “‘I will surely strike my hands together at the unjust gain you have made and at the blood you have shed in your midst. 14 Will your courage endure or your hands be strong in the day I deal with you? I the Lord have spoken, and I will do it. 15 I will disperse you among the nations and scatter you through the countries; and I will put an end to your uncleanness. 16 When you have been defiled[a] in the eyes of the nations, you will know that I am the Lord.’”
17 Then the word of the Lord came to me: 18 “Son of man, the people of Israel have become dross to me; all of them are the copper, tin, iron and lead left inside a furnace. They are but the dross of silver. 19 Therefore this is what the Sovereign Lord says: ‘Because you have all become dross, I will gather you into Jerusalem. 20 As silver, copper, iron, lead and tin are gathered into a furnace to be melted with a fiery blast, so will I gather you in my anger and my wrath and put you inside the city and melt you. 21 I will gather you and I will blow on you with my fiery wrath, and you will be melted inside her. 22 As silver is melted in a furnace, so you will be melted inside her, and you will know that I the Lord have poured out my wrath on you.’”
23 Again the word of the Lord came to me: 24 “Son of man, say to the land, ‘You are a land that has not been cleansed or rained on in the day of wrath.’ 25 There is a conspiracy of her princes[b] within her like a roaring lion tearing its prey; they devour people, take treasures and precious things and make many widows within her. 26 Her priests do violence to my law and profane my holy things; they do not distinguish between the holy and the common; they teach that there is no difference between the unclean and the clean; and they shut their eyes to the keeping of my Sabbaths, so that I am profaned among them. 27 Her officials within her are like wolves tearing their prey; they shed blood and kill people to make unjust gain. 28 Her prophets whitewash these deeds for them by false visions and lying divinations. They say, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says’—when the Lord has not spoken. 29 The people of the land practice extortion and commit robbery; they oppress the poor and needy and mistreat the foreigner, denying them justice.
30 “I looked for someone among them who would build up the wall and stand before me in the gap on behalf of the land so I would not have to destroy it, but I found no one. 31 So I will pour out my wrath on them and consume them with my fiery anger, bringing down on their own heads all they have done, declares the Sovereign Lord.”


a. Ezekiel 22:16 Or When I have allotted you your inheritance
b. Ezekiel 22:25 Septuagint; Hebrew prophet

Well that's some pretty raw stuff. When I was reading verses 10 and 11.... I was wondering how a good preacher would read this before the children left to go to Children's Church.... leaving only adults in the room. Then I reminded myself that preachers don't use Ezekiel... it's not pew friendly.

This is from the easy English site.

Twice, the Lord tells Ezekiel to declare the judgement against Jerusalem. The matter is now urgent. Ezekiel must tell the people what their crimes are. This is not a matter of history. The people in the city are now doing these evil things. They have killed so many people in the city of Jerusalem. They have turned from the real God to serve false gods. They are guilty of every evil deed. They are wicked and cruel. That is why they are suffering now. Soon the final punishment from God will come to them. God will destroy Jerusalem.​
The nations round about could see the sin of Jerusalem. They could see that it was guilty of so many evil things. And they laughed at the city.
The chief cause of the evil behaviour in Jerusalem was its leaders. They should have led the people to do the right things. They should have taught them the law of God. But, the leaders were even more guilty than the rest of the people.
Manasseh had been a bad king. He ruled for 55 years (2 Kings chapter 21). Then there was a good king. Josiah ruled for 31 years (2 Kings chapters 22 to 23). But his efforts to bring the people back to God did not last. After him, there were more bad kings. And the nation was as bad as it was before.
All the leaders were using their power for their own desires. They even caused the deaths of many people in Jerusalem.
The leaders had worked together for their own benefit. They did not care about the people. The leaders simply wanted to become rich. They did not serve God or obey him. The result of their evil acts was that many people died.
The priests should have taught the people to know God. They should have been the agents of God for the people. They should have obeyed the law of God and they should have taught the people as well. But the priests did not obey the law and they did not teach the people. They did not respect the temple or the work of God. They did not keep the Sabbaths as special days. They did not respect the Lord God.
The leaders of Jerusalem were wicked men. They killed people and they stole their wealth. The prophets should have spoken against these evil deeds. But they did not do so. Instead, they gave false prophecies. They spoke as if these deeds were good. They lied. They said that they spoke the Lord’s messages. But the Lord had not spoken to them. (See Ezekiel 13:1-23)​
The people did what their leaders did. They cheated and they robbed the poor people, the weak people and the foreigners.
So, God looked for a man whom he could trust. He looked for a man who could come to him on behalf of the country. God did not want to destroy the country. But there was no other way. Such a man did not exist. So, God destroyed Judah. His anger was like a fire that nobody could put out.​
Ezekiel wrote this as if it had already happened. But the final disaster was still a few years ahead. The end would happen in 586 BC.
This is from bibletrack.org.

The detailed list of specific sins are listed in verses 3-12, with the penalty found in verses 13-16. That penalty is summed up in verse 15, "And I will scatter thee among the heathen, and disperse thee in the countries, and will consume thy filthiness out of thee." This prophecy references the fall of Jerusalem in 586 B.C. and the subsequent deportation of its influential citizens, an event recorded in II Kings 24.
Incidentally, you will notice at the top of their list of sins in verses 3-4 is found the problem with which Israel always struggled - the false worship of idols. Every other rebellious act against God seemed to have at its roots this sin of idolatry.​
Jerusalem, all your leaders are wicked and your prophets are liars...and your regular ol' everyday people are corrupt too. I memorized verse 30 back in the late 1960s before I even understood the context: "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." I thought it sounded sort of American-ish to me. Notice that Ezekiel specifically prophesies against the prophets (25, 28), priests (26) and princes (27) along with the common people (29) within Judah prior to the fall of Jerusalem in 586 B.C. Good principled leaders have always been hard to find. How many ways can you prophesy the doom of Judah/Jerusalem? Well...here's one more in verse 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."​
Back in the day..... people weren't killed in the city. It was messy.... killing is messy..... blood would get everywhere..... they didn't have the more civilized lethal injections back then.... it was sword or knife..... they didn't have gunpowder yet...... I don't think..... that would have made it even messier. I'm talking about all the blood and the poop that would come out after death too. All that was a mess.... and there was no spic and span back then.... there were no swiffers to do the work. Back in the days of Ezekiel.... lawful people went outside the city to poop because back then there were no bathrooms in their homes. Blood in the city was not allowed.

Back when I was a kid.... we use to visit my grandmother in Virginia. Back then.... they didn't have inside bathrooms. They had a pot and an out house.... I didn't like either..... the pot was loud and very stinky..... and there were snakes in the outhouse.... one of my uncles told me...... Of course he also told me they were hoop snakes.... but I was a child and I thought he was a good uncle.... what did I know.

The point is.... an inside toilet is a relatively new invention.... back in the days of Ezekiel.... people didn't even have a toilet in their homes.... they walked clean outside the city to keep the city clean and sanitary..... the idea of a blood bath.... well it was a lot worse than synced up menstrual cycles.

I visited a smelting plant in Tennessee or Kentucky..... somewhere in there.... back in the late 70's when I was hitchhiking across country. The smelting pot never quite empties all the way.... there's always some stuff that clings to the pot..... that's dross.... it's useless...it's messy.... it's clingy..... no value..... God says people are dross.

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