And the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, Son of man, set they
face toward the mountains of Israel, and prophesy against them, And
say, Ye mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Lord God; Thus
saith the Lord God to the mountains, and to the hills, to the
rivers, and to the valleys, Behold I, even I, will bring a sword
upon you, and I will destroy your high places; and your altars shall
be desolate, and your images shall be broken; and I will cast down
your slain men before your idols. And I will lay the dead carcasses
of the children of Israel before their idols; and I will scatter
your bones round about your altars. In all your dwelling-places the
cities shall be laid waste, and the high places shall be desolate;
that your altars may be laid waste and made desolate, and your idols
may be broken and cease, and your images may be cut down, and your
works may be abolished. And the slain shall fall in the midst of
you; and ye shall know that I am the Lord (chapter vi:1-7).
The denunciation against the mountains of Israel stands in the first
place. Jerusalem was mostly in view in the preceding chapters, but now
the Lord announces that the whole land is to become desolate through His
wrath. The mountains of Israel's land were used as places for idolatry;
they are called "the high places." Images and shrines were erected upon
these heights where the vile and idolatrous worship of heathen gods was
practiced. These images were idols dedicated to sun-worship. That Israel
would become idolatrous had been revealed to Moses, who also announced
the judgment which should ultimately fall upon Israel for their
idolatry. "And I will destroy your high places, and cut down your
images, and cast your carcasses upon the carcasses of your idols, and my
soul shall abhor you. And I will make your cities waste, and bring your
sanctuaries unto desolation, and I will not smell the savor of your
sweet odors. And I will bring the land into desolation, and your
enemies which dwell therein shall be astonished. And I will scatter you
among the nations and will draw out a sword after you and your land
shall be desolate, and your cities waste" (Lev. xxvi:30-33). This
remarkable prophetic statement was made to Moses, who wrote it hundreds
of years before. And now the time for its fulfillment had at last come.
God in His patience had delayed the judgment, but when the time had come
He remembered all that Moses heard from His lips and executed His own
Word. A careful comparison of the passage in Leviticus with verses 3-6
of this chapter shows the literal fulfillment.
Yet will I leave a remnant that ye may have some that shall escape
the sword among the nations, when ye shall be scattered through the
countries. And they that escape of you shall remember me among the
nations whither they shall be carried captives, because I shall have
broken their whorish heart, which hath departed from me, and with
their eyes, which go a whoring after their idols: and they shall
loathe themselves for the evils which they have committed in all
their abominations, and they shall know that I am the Lord, and that
I have not said in vain that I would do this evil unto them. Thus
saith the Lord God: Smite with thine hand, and stamp with thy foot,
and say, Alas for all the evil abominations of the house of Israel!
for they shall fall by the sword, by the famine, and by the
pestilence. He that is far off shall die of the pestilence; and he
that is near shall fall by the sword; and he that remaineth and is
besieged shall die by the famine; thus will I accomplish my fury
upon them. Then shall ye know that I am the Lord, when their slain
men shall be among their idols round about their altars, upon every
high hill, in all the tops of the mountains, and under every green
tree, and under every thick oak, the place where they did offer
sweet savour to all their idols. So will I stretch out my hand upon
them, and make the land desolate; yea, more desolate than the
wilderness toward Diblath, in all their habitations: and they shall
know that I am the Lord (verses 8-14).
The Lord promised that in mercy He would leave a remnant. That remnant
would acknowledge the evil they had done. "They shall loathe themselves
for the evils which they have committed in all their abominations." This
is the result of Jehovah's action towards themselves. The words "because
I am broken with their whorish heart" are literally translated "when I
shall have broken their whorish heart which has departed from me." No
judgment which came upon God's peculiar people ever made a complete end
of the nation. A remnant always remained and turned to the Lord. During
the greatest and longest judgment which has ever befallen the people
Israel, their world-wide dispersion in the present age, there is also a
remnant amongst them (Romans xi:5). And when Jehovah resumes His
dealings with them during the last seven years of the Times of the
Gentiles, the time of their greatest trouble, a remnant will turn to Him
and be converted. That remnant will be carried through the mighty
judgments of the end time and receive the blessings and the glory of the
promised kingdom.
Ezekiel was also commanded to smite with his hand and to stamp with his
foot. Clapping the hands and stamping with the feet may denote
exultation (chapter xxv:6). But here it is more an outward expression of
the vehemence of the judgment. In chapter xxi:7 we read of the Lord
smiting His hands. "I will also smite mine hands together, and I will
cause my fury to rest, I the Lord have said it." A repetition of the
impending judgments forms the conclusion of this first message.
Chapter vii.
II. The second Judgment Message. The End is at Hand. The Complete
Judgment.
The seventh chapter which contains the second judgment message, closes
the first prophecy of Ezekiel. All the different elements and phases of
judgment which had just been foretold by the Prophet are now gathered
up in this final great utterance. As the chapter is written in a certain
rythm and contains in the authorized version many incorrect renderings,
we give a corrected metrical translation.
"And the Word of Jehovah came unto me, saying, And thou Son of Man,
thus saith Jehovah unto the land of Israel:
An end cometh! The end
Upon the four corners of the land.
Now cometh the end upon thee
And I will send mine anger upon thee,
And I will judge thee according to thy ways;
And I will bring upon thee all thine abominations.
And mine eyes shall not spare thee,
Neither will I have pity;
Because I will bring thy ways upon thee
And thine abominations shall be in the midst of thee:
And ye shall know that I am Jehovah.
Thus saith the Lord Jehovah!
An evil--an only evil!--behold it cometh.[8]
An end is come--the end is come!
It awaketh against thee. Behold it cometh!
O inhabitant of the land, thy doom is come unto thee
The set time is come, the day is near,
The day of tumult.
And not the joyous shouting upon the mountains;
Now will I soon pour out my fury upon thee
And accomplish mine anger against thee.
I will judge thee according to thy ways,
And will bring upon thee all thine abominations.
Mine eye shall not spare, neither will I have pity.
According to thy ways will I render unto thee,
And thine abominations shall be in the midst of thee,
And ye shall know that I am Jehovah, who smiteth
(chapter vii:1-9).
[8] Another rendering is: "Calamity after calamity!"
This is the first section of this great and solemn portion of Ezekiel's
prophecy. The end is announced to come upon the entire land. The set
time for judgment had come, it could no longer be averted. How merciful
had been Jehovah's dealing with His beloved people. "But He, being full
of compassion, forgave their iniquity, and destroyed them not; yea many
a time turned He His anger away, and did not stir up all His wrath" (Ps.
lxxviii:38). But now the measure of their wickedness had come. The day
of reckoning was at hand. Divine fury was to sweep now over the entire
land. His eyes would no longer spare nor would He pity them any longer.
There is another day coming in which the Lord will deal in fearful
judgments with this earth. Now is the day of salvation in which God
speaks in love through His Son. When wickedness and apostasy has reached
its climax, the day of salvation will end and "the day of vengeance of
our God" will begin. Then He will speak in His wrath and vex them in His
sore displeasure (Ps. ii:5). Then will they say to the mountains and
rocks, "Fall on us, and hide us from the face of Him that sitteth on the
throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb; for the great day of His wrath
is come; and who shall be able to stand?" (Rev. vi:16-17). God's
judgments for the future are as sure as were His judgments in the past.
There is a set time, the day of the Lord, when He, to whom the Father
has given all judgments, will tread "the winepress of the fierceness of
the wrath of God, the Almighty" (Rev. xix:15).
Behold the Day! Behold it cometh!
Thy doom advanceth:
The rod hath blossomed, pride hath budded.
Violence has risen up into a rod of wickedness;
None of them shall remain; yea none of their multitude,
Nor their wealth; neither shall there be eminency among them.
The time is come, the day draweth near;
Let not the buyer rejoice, nor the seller mourn,
For wrath is upon all the multitude thereof.
For the seller shall not return to that which is sold,
Even though he were yet amongst the living.
In the vision touching the whole multitude thereof
It shall not be revoked;
And none shall through his iniquity assure his life.
They have blown the trumpet and made all ready,
But none goeth to the battle;
For my wrath is upon all the multitude thereof.
The sword is without; the pestilence and the famine within;
He that is in the field shall die by the sword;
And he that is in the city, famine and pestilence shall devour him.
But they that escape of them shall escape,
And be as the mountains like moaning doves,
All of them mourning, every one for his iniquity.
All hands shall be feeble, and every knee shall fail like water.
They shall gird themselves with sackcloth,
And horror shall cover them;
Shame shall be upon all faces, baldness upon all heads
(verses 10-18).
What a solemn description of the doom which was now to fall upon
Jerusalem, the land and its inhabitants! The buyer and the seller as
well as all the multitude were to be affected by it. The decree of
judgment which had gone forth could not be revoked. The blowing of the
trumpet, which is mentioned has generally been misunderstood by
expositors. It is said to picture "the collapse of Judah's military
preparations in the hour of danger, that when the siege of Jerusalem
came, none responded." The blowing of the trumpets among Israel had a
special significance. It carried with it the assurance that Jehovah
heard and would be ready to fight for His people against their enemies.
But as they knew their iniquities had separated them from God, His face
being against them, none did go to the battle, for His wrath rested upon
them all. Sword, pestilence and famine would devour them all and the few
fugitives would be upon the mountains mourning over their iniquities.
The rod mentioned which hath blossomed means Nebuchadnezzar, who
executed this great judgment upon Jerusalem. The climax of the judgment
prophecy is reached in the third part of the chapter.
They shall cast their silver in the streets,
And their gold shall be as an unclean thing;
Their silver and their gold shall not be able to deliver them
In the day of Jehovah's wrath;
They cannot satisfy their souls, neither fill their bowls,
Because it was the stumbling block of their iniquity.
And the beauty of their ornaments, they turned it to pride,
And the images of their abominations, their detestable things made
they of it.
And I shall give it to the hands of strangers for a prey,
And to the wicked of the earth for a spoil; and they shall profane it.
For I will turn my face from them,
And they shall defile my secret place,
And robbers shall enter into it and profane it.
Form a chain,
For the land is full of bloody crimes,
And the city full of violence.
Therefore will I bring the worst of the nations,
And they shall possess their houses;
And I will make the pride of the mighty to cease,
And their sanctuaries shall be defiled.
Destruction cometh!
They shall seek peace, but there shall be none.
Calamity after calamity shall appear;
And rumour shall be upon rumour;
Then shall they seek a vision from a prophet;
But the law shall perish from the priest,
And counsel from the elders.
The king shall mourn, and the prince shall be clothed with dismay,
And the hands of the people of the land shall tremble:
I will do unto them according to their way,
When I shall judge them according to their deserts;
And they shall know that I am the Lord (verses 19-27).
Here we learn first of all that the stumbling block of their iniquity
(verse 19) was the silver and gold. Prophets like Isaiah, Amos and
others bear witness to the fact that Jerusalem and the land enjoyed
great prosperity and indulged in extravagant living before the judgment
overtook the nation. Said Isaiah, "Their land also is full of silver and
gold, neither is there an end of their treasures." In the third chapter
of Isaiah the luxurious dress of the daughters of Zion is vividly
described, while Amos also gives the scenes of their riotous, wanton
living and emphasizes the oppression of the poor. Riches had increased
and the prosperous conditions of the land produced vanity; they forgot
Jehovah and worshipped the idols of the Gentiles. And now as the day of
wrath breaks, their eyes would be opened and they were to find out the
absolute worthlessness of their silver and gold. They would cast it into
the streets, for it was unable to deliver them. Zephaniah, in his great
vision of the national calamity which was to fall upon the people, gives
a similar testimony. "Neither their silver nor their gold shall be able
to deliver them in the day of the Lord's wrath; but the whole land shall
be devoured by the fire of His jealousy; for He shall make even a speedy
riddance of all them that dwell in the land" (Zeph. i:18).
The Holy Spirit bears witness in the New Testament that similar
conditions will exist in Christendom during the end of the present age.
"Men shall be lovers of their ownselves, lovers of money (covetous) and
lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God" (2 Tim. iii:1-5). The
conditions of worldliness, apostasy, prosperity and luxurious living
which prevailed in Jerusalem before the hand of God stripped the people
and the land characterize our times. This will go on, and will culminate
after the Lord has taken His true church into glory. In view of the
visible coming of the Lord to deal with the earth in judgment the Spirit
of God through James addresses especially the rich men. "Go to now, ye
rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you....
Ye have heaped treasure together for the last days" (James v:1-3).
The message of Ezekiel also announced that the Gentiles, the strangers,
were to come and defile the temple. The chain mentioned refers to their
condition as captives. Destruction was to come. There should be no
peace; calamity was to follow calamity; according to what they had done
a righteous God would deal with them. And thus it came to pass when
Jerusalem fell and the people were taken away as captives.