EZK 7Ezekiel 7

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NLT

English Standard Version (ESV)

New Living Translation (NLT)

The Coming of the End

7 Then this message came to me from the LORD: 2 “Son of man, this is what the Sovereign LORD says to Israel: your land is finished. 3 No hope remains, for all your detestable sins. 4 I will turn my eyes away and show no pity. Then you will know that I am the LORD. 5 “This is what the Sovereign LORD says: is coming your way! 6 The end has come. Your final doom is waiting! 7 O people of Israel, the day of your destruction is dawning. not shouts of joy. 8 Soon I will pour out my fury on you for all your detestable sins. 9 I will turn my eyes away and show no pity. who is striking the blow. 10 “The day of judgment is here; have blossomed to full flower. 11 Their violence has grown into a rod All their wealth and prestige will be swept away. 12 Yes, the time has come; under my terrible anger. 13 Even if the merchants survive, will ever recover. 14 “The trumpet calls Israel’s army to mobilize, for my fury is against them all. 15 There is war outside the city will die of famine and disease. 16 The survivors who escape to the mountains will moan like doves, weeping for their sins. 17 Their hands will hang limp, their knees will be weak as water. 18 They will dress themselves in burlap; in sorrow and remorse. 19 “They will throw their money in the streets, for their greed can only trip them up. 20 They were proud of their beautiful jewelry disgusting to them. 21 I will give it as plunder to foreigners, and they will defile it. 22 I will turn my eyes from them as these robbers invade and defile my treasured land. 23 “Prepare chains for my people, Jerusalem is filled with violence. 24 I will bring the most ruthless of nations and defile their sanctuaries. 25 Terror and trembling will overcome my people. They will look for peace but not find it. 26 Calamity will follow calamity; and no counsel from the leaders. 27 The king and the prince will stand helpless, Then they will know that I am the LORD.”

Introduction to Ezekiel

Background of Ezekiel

What Is the Book of Ezekiel About?

Time: 4 Minutes

Do you know about the apocalypse craze that captured the imagination of teenagers and young adults in the early 2000s? Animated by interest in the Mayan calendar, many were obsessed with the “end of the world,” supposedly foretold by the Mayans, whose calendar ended on the year 2012.

We have a kind of obsession with the “end times”—think of all the apocalyptic books and movies. In the Bible, though, the apocalypse doesn’t simply mean the “end of the world.” Rather, it’s a revealing or unfolding of that which is real. Literally, the word “apocalypse” means “unveiling.”

We catch a glimpse of this unveiling in the book of Ezekiel.

In the thirtieth year, in the fourth month, on the fifth day of the month, as I was among the exiles by the Chebar canal, the heavens were opened, and I saw visions of God. (Ezekiel 1:1 ESV)

Through Ezekiel’s apocalyptic vision, God pulled back the curtain of the physical world. The heavens opened. Ezekiel saw reality—the seen and the unseen. This first verse of Ezekiel alone piques our curiosity—what did he see?

Before we answer that question, we need to know why Ezekiel saw this vision from God.

Ezekiel was a prophet to the exiles from Israel’s southern kingdom, Judah, in 597 BC. The foreign power, Babylon, had violently taken these people from their homes. In other words, God had displaced his people from the land he had given them because of their sin and rebellion against him. Ezekiel lived among the exiles in this foreign land.

A songwriter in the exile laments: “How shall we sing the Lord’s song in a foreign land?” (Psalm 137:4). How can God’s people worship in such tragic circumstances? If ever God’s people needed to hear from God, it was now. So in his kindness, God sent Ezekiel to the exiles to speak for him—to reorient them to reality. Ezekiel helps the exiles see themselves, God, and their future all from God’s perspective.

God appoints Ezekiel to be a “watchman for the house of Israel” (Ezekiel 3:17). Some of the visions he sees serve to remind the disoriented Israelites that their sins brought about their tragic circumstances. These visions are warnings from God that if they did not turn from their sin, further tragedy would befall Israel, but if they do turn from sin, God will forgive and renew them. Ezekiel tells the exiles that if a wicked person turns away from all his sins that he has committed and keeps all God’s statutes and does what is just and right, he shall surely live; he shall not die (Ezekiel 18:21).

The book of Ezekiel opens our eyes to the majesty and greatness of God.

Ezekiel also sees visions of God himself. Though Ezekiel and his contemporaries are displaced by Babylon, no longer in Israel, God still visits him in a “chariot” (Ezekiel 1:4-28), symbolizing that God’s power and presence are not confined to only Israel. He is sovereign over all places and people. Ezekiel seems to struggle to describe God. Contrast the long descriptions of the “four living creatures” (Ezekiel 1:4-25) with the rather short and terse description of God (Ezekiel 1:26-28). In contrast to the creatures, God is difficult to describe—what we see of him is merely a “likeness.” This is because he is holy and unlike anything else in all his creation. The book of Ezekiel opens our eyes to the majesty and greatness of God.

Finally, God comforts these exiles with visions of the future: God will gather his people again (Ezekiel 34:11-24) through a Shepherd; he will bring life to our dead bones (Ezekiel 37:1-14); This Shepherd will be a King and unite God’s people (Ezekiel 37:22-28); God will overcome and defeat all of Israel’s enemies (Ezekiel 38-39); and, finally, God’s presence will be restored among his people, with the new temple (Ezekiel 40-48).

Though Ezekiel sees visions of the “end of the world,” this apocalyptic literature in the Bible is different in the Bible than popular understandings of the apocalypse. Ezekiel’s visions are filled with grand and hopeful promises.

Above all of these is God’s promise to give us his Spirit (Ezekiel 36:26), who will remake us and bring us life—life with him (Ezekiel 36:28). The keen Bible reader will see how Jesus fits into each of these future promises. Indeed, the cries of God’s people to be delivered and restored is answered in the person and work of Jesus Christ.

What determines your vision of God, the world, and your future? Open Ezekiel and ask God to make his vision your own.

What Is the Background of Ezekiel?

Time: 20 Minutes

The Background of Ezekiel

1

Author and Date

The first dated message in Ezekiel is from the summer of 593 BC, four years after Nebuchadnezzar deported the first group of exiles to Babylon. The latest dated oracle is 22 years later, in April 571 BC. If Ezekiel was 30 years old when his ministry began (Ezekiel 1:1), the final vision of the book came when he was about 50.

2

Theme and Purpose

Ezekiel spoke to a people forced from their home because they had broken faith with their God. As the spokesman for the Lord, Ezekiel spoke oracles that defended his reputation as a holy God (see especially Ezekiel 36:22–23). The primary purpose of Ezekiel’s message was to restore God’s glory before Israel, who had rejected him in front of the watching nations.

3

Background

Ezekiel prophesied during a time of great confusion following Israel’s exile to Babylon in 597 BC. A former Judean king was among the exiles (the 18-year-old Jehoiachin), and the Babylonians had appointed a puppet king to the throne in Jerusalem (Jehoiachin’s uncle, Zedekiah).

In times of crisis, God sent prophets to bring his message to his people. Judah’s exile was therefore a period of intense prophetic activity. (Jeremiah also served during this time.)

Ezekiel’s fellow exiles were his main audience, but his oracles also communicated to people who remained in Judah.

4

Key Themes

1. As a priest, Ezekiel was deeply concerned with restoring God’s people to holiness. His understanding of the depth of Israel’s sin is clear in his version of Israel’s history (ch. 20). Even the oracles about a restored Israel (ch. 40–48) include a way to deal with the people’s sin so they can survive in the presence of a holy God. Ezekiel’s concern with sin also accounts for the many places where the book echoes the laws given in the Pentateuch, as well as the similarities between Ezekiel’s new temple (ch. 40–42) and the Exodus tabernacle.

2. Israel was subject to its national God. However, this God is no tribal deity. He is supreme over all nations. Therefore Nebuchadnezzar, king of mighty Babylon, was simply a tool in God’s hand to accomplish God’s purpose (e.g., Ezekiel 21:19–23; 30:25). God’s absolute supremacy is most clearly demonstrated in the battle against Gog, the final enemy (ch. 38–39), where God alone crushes Gog’s vast hostile forces.

3. Ezekiel declares judgment on those clinging to false hope, but offers true hope to those who accept God’s judgment (Ezekiel 37:11). He linked God’s judgment with the hope of a new heart and spirit (Ezekiel 36:22–32).

4. The condemnation of Israel’s “princes” (e.g., ch. 19) finds its hopeful counterpart in the promise of a future “prince” who would rule with justice (Ezekiel 34:23–24) and connect the people to God (Ezekiel 46:1–18).

5

Outline

I. Inaugural Vision (1:1–3:27)
II. Judgment on Jerusalem and Judah (4:1–24:27)
III. Oracles against Foreign Nations (25:1–32:32)
IV. After the Fall of Jerusalem (33:1–39:29)
V. Vision of Restoration (40:1–48:35)

6

The Near East at the Time of Ezekiel

Background of Ezekiel

The Global Message of Ezekiel

The book of Ezekiel is filled with global significance, both for the world of Ezekiel’s time and for our own world today.

1

Israel’s Failure

Ezekiel lived and prophesied among the Jewish exiles in Babylon immediately after the fall of Jerusalem in 586 BC. This was a tragic time in Israel’s history. God’s promises to Abraham, including the promise that his descendants would live and flourish in the Promised Land, seemed to have been long forgotten. Another cause for discouragement was the way Israel had failed in its calling to be a light to the nations. Instead, the nations had influenced Israel, introducing idolatry and other forms of faithlessness into the life of God’s covenant people.

A particular focus of Ezekiel is the way in which Israel’s failures reflect on God himself. In the eyes of the surrounding nations, God is spurned on account of Israel’s lack of loyalty to him. God is therefore going to take matters directly into his own hands: “It is not for your sake, O house of Israel, that I am about to act, but for the sake of my holy name. . . . And the nations will know that I am the Lord” (Ezekiel 36:22–23). Throughout Ezekiel, therefore, we hear God determining to act “for the sake of his name” (Ezekiel 20:9, 14, 22, 44; 36:22) and “that they might know that I am the Lord” (Ezekiel 20:12, 26). God’s glory was at stake in Israel’s fidelity—or lack thereof.

2

God’s Solution

At the same time, Israel’s own fate was bound up with the fate of God’s honor. God says to Israel, “through you I will vindicate my holiness before their eyes. I will take you from the nations and gather you from all the countries and bring you into your own land. I will sprinkle clean water on you” (Ezekiel 36:23–25). God would not vindicate his own name and honor at Israel’s expense, but rather through mercifully restoring them to himself. Throughout the book of Ezekiel, then, the focus constantly swivels between God’s holiness and mercy, his glory and his grace, his righteous hostility toward his people’s sin and his covenantally bound love for them. Both his holiness and his covenant love are key characteristics of God. They are nonnegotiable, definitive divine attributes. Neither can be compromised.

Only in Christ is this tension resolved. For it is only in Christ that God’s holiness and justice, on the one hand, and his mercy and love, on the other, are reconciled without compromising either. For in Christ God’s righteous justice is satisfied, and yet God’s amazing grace is on full display as believers receive freely the benefits of Christ’s atoning work.

Another way we see Ezekiel’s prophecy anticipate Christ is through the whole-Bible theme of spiritual marriage and adultery. Ezekiel 16 and 23, for example, graphically portray Israel’s faithlessness in terms of whoredom: God is the divine husband, Israel is the faithless wife. This metaphor carries on into the New Testament, where Christ is the great Bridegroom who gives himself up for the sake of his bride (Ephesians 5:25–27, 32; compare Mark 2:19; John 3:29). Indeed, this is the note on which the New Testament ends, as the new Jerusalem comes down out of heaven and Christ is depicted as a sacrificial “Lamb” who has given his life for the sake of “the Bride, the wife of the Lamb” (Revelation 21:9).

3

Universal Themes in Ezekiel

The Witness of God’s People to the World

The catastrophe into which Ezekiel was born—exile to Babylon—was the polar opposite of what God had called Israel to do. Israel was to be a light to the nations (Genesis 12:1–3; Isaiah 49:6; 60:3). Instead, the nations had brought darkness to Israel (see Ezekiel 34:12–13). Ezekiel shows how this capitulation to the godless ways of the nations detracts from God’s own glory. It is the welfare of God’s name, not only the welfare of Israel, that is at stake in Israel’s corporate life. God’s people then and now are called to bring the mercy of God to all the nations of the world, so that God might be properly glorified, and the peoples of the earth might be restored to their Maker.

God is Lord of All the Nations

Regardless of whether God’s own people are faithful to their mission to be a light to the nations, Ezekiel teaches us that the God of Israel is no tribal deity but is Lord of all the nations of the world. Even the mighty king of Babylon, seemingly invincible, does only what the God of Israel decrees (Ezekiel 21:19–23; 30:25). In the climactic battle against Gog, too, we see God’s global supremacy as he crushes this rebellious foe (ch. 38–39).

4

The Global Message of Ezekiel for Today

The core message of Ezekiel for the worldwide church today is its radical God-centeredness. The God who is presented in Ezekiel is utterly transcendent, perfectly holy, and not to be relegated to the sidelines of the corporate life of his people. At the same time, the Lord is depicted in Ezekiel as great not only in holiness but in mercy. In spite of his people’s faithlessness, he is not abandoning them but will himself sprinkle them clean and give them new hearts (Ezekiel 11:19–20; 36:25–26).

In our God-minimizing world today, the message of Ezekiel is much needed. Around the world, sin manifests itself not only in outright rebellion and transgression but also in a subtle sidelining of God, both individually and corporately. Trust in political power replaces trust in God’s rightful rule. The false security of money replaces the only solid refuge in God. The passing delights of sexual immorality replace the lasting delights of walking with God. Consumerism and a flood of advertising dull us into thinking that this world is our one shot at truly living. Greedy consumption of the earth’s resources by a powerful few replaces wise stewardship of what God has entrusted to the human race.

In an age of God-minimization, the global church has an urgent message: Our God reigns. He rules over all in power and might, and one day judgment will fall upon those who cling to the things of this world. Yet our message is two-pronged: not only does God reign in might and justice and judgment-to-come, he also invites into his goodness any who will bow their knee to him (Ezekiel 37:23). To those who do, their lifeless bones will be given life, the very breath of God (Ezekiel 37:1–14). They will be sprinkled clean (Ezekiel 36:25). One day Eden will be restored, and all those from around the world who entrust themselves to the Lord will be part of that great and final restoration (Ezekiel 36:33–36).

Want to learn more about the book of Ezekiel? Read our introduction to the book here.

Contribution line

7:1-7:2 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.

7:1-7:27 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.

7:3-7:4 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.

7:5-7:9 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).

7:10 blossomed to full flower: In their wickedness and pride, the people of Israel were ripe to be plucked (cp. Amos 8:1-2).

7:11 Their violence has grown into a rod that will beat them: God would use their own violence to punish them by giving them over to internal strife and conflict (cp. Prov 6:27). Wealth and prestige could not save them against the coming torrent of destruction.

7:12-7:13 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.

7:12-7:27 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.

7:14 When Israel sounded the trumpet in holy war, the troops would not rally and the enemy would not be terrified, as in the past (see Num 10:9; Josh 6:4-20; Judg 6:34; 7:16-22; Neh 4:18-20).

7:19 Even silver and gold, the traditional last resorts in times of crisis, would be unable to save or satisfy their owners. They would dispose of them like worthless trash (literally impurity), something hateful and disgusting that they could not wait to be rid of.

7:20-7:22 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.

7:23-7:27 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.

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