Moreover the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, Now, thou son of
man, wilt thou judge, wilt thou judge the bloody city? yea, thou
shalt shew her all her abominations. 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. 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. Those that be near, and those that be far from thee,
shall mock thee, which art infamous and much vexed. Behold, the
princes of Israel, every one were in thee to their power to shed
blood. 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. Thou hast
despised mine holy things, and hast profaned my sabbaths. 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. In thee
have they discovered their fathers' nakedness: in thee have they
humbled her that was set apart for pollution. And one hath committed
abomination with his neighbor's wife; and another hath lewdly
defiled his daughter-in-law; and another in thee hath humbled his
sister, his father's daughter. In thee have they taken gifts to shed
blood; thou hast taken usury and increase, and thou hast greedily
gained of thy neighbors by extortion, and hast forgotten me, saith
the Lord God. 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. 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. And I will scatter thee among the
heathen, and disperse thee in the countries, and will consume thy
filthiness out of thee. And thou shalt take thine inheritance in
thyself in the sight of the heathen, and thou shalt know that I am
the Lord (verses 1-16).
Jerusalem is called here a bloody city on account of the deeds of
violence which were committed in her midst. Once it was a faithful city,
full of judgment and righteousness; but she had become an harlot, and
murderers lodged in it (Isaiah i:21). The prophets and the righteous had
been killed in her midst. And He who sent these messages of warning and
impending judgment, who waited so patiently for Jerusalem's repentance
and the return of His people, came in the fullness of time, in the midst
of His people and to that city. Before He went to the cross of Calvary,
where He gave Himself and where also Jerusalem's bloodguiltiness was
fearfully crowned by killing the Prince of Life (Acts iii:15), He stood
before that city with tear-filled eyes and uttered those tender and
never to be forgotten words: "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest
the prophets and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would
I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathered her
chickens under her wings, and ye would not" (Matt. xxiii:37). And
Stephen said, "Which of the prophets have not your fathers persecuted?
and they have slain them which showed before of the coming of the Just
One, of whom ye have been now the betrayers and murderers" (Acts
vii:52). "His blood be upon us and our children" was their awful cry,
when the bloody city delivered Him into the hands of the Gentiles, and
ever since they have been, Cain-like, the homeless wanderers among the
nations, till some day they will acknowledge their bloodguiltiness and
turn to Him. And in this chapter the Lord describes all her violence and
abominations. All were guilty of violence and the shedding of blood,
especially the princes, the Kings of Judah. (See Jeremiah xxvi:21 and
xxxviii:4, etc.). And inasmuch as they had turned away from Jehovah and
worshipped idols, moral corruption and the vile things man is capable of
were likewise present.
And such are also the conditions to-day among the nations, which profess
to be Christian; violence and bloodshed, moral corruption and
abomination. May we not forget that the Lord, who knew Jerusalem's guilt
and judged her for it, is the same to-day, who will judge the violence
and the abominations on the earth among nations whose privileges have
been even greater than the privileges and blessings of Jerusalem. "Thou
hast forgotten Me," was Jehovah's accusation against the city. Had they
remembered Jehovah's kindness, His gracious dealing with their fathers,
had they remembered His Word, these abominations would not have come to
pass. And the source of the violence, the bloodshed, the moral darkness
in the world to-day, is, that the nations have forgotten God. The
judgment of the city is again announced.