Tag Archives: Ezekiel 22-23

Daily Bible Study

September 3, 2023 Bible Study — It Is Past Time to Repair the Wall of Righteousness

Today, I am reading and commenting on  Ezekiel 22-23.

Ezekiel lays out the reasons that God will destroy Jerusalem.  He lays out how the political leaders have shed blood to advance their interests.  While it became culturally acceptable to treat parents with contempt, oppress foreigners, mistreat orphans and widows, despise the Holy, behave in all sorts of sexually inappropriate ways, profit off of the poor, and extort unjust gains.  Ezekiel goes on to describe how the religious leaders fail to distinguish between the holy and the common and teach that there is no difference between the clean and the unclean.  How can the people be expected to honor God when those who claim to speak on His behalf fail to distinguish between good and evil?

I was going to write about a news story I recently read which illustrates the ways in which political and religious leaders profit off of the poor while claiming to speak on their behalf, but decided that would distract from my point.  Reading this passage and seeing how it applies to our society today makes it look like we are doomed, like God’s judgement will inescapably fall on us.  However, there is one other thing in this passage.  Ezekiel tells us that God looked in Jerusalem for people to repair the wall against unrighteousness, for people to stand in the gaps while it was being repaired.  And He did not find them.  Well, He is looking for such people today in our society.  Will you work to repair the wall? Will you stand in the gaps in the wall?  Or will you just put whitewash on it to cover up that it is about to collapse?

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Daily Bible Study

September 3, 2022 Bible Study — Disrespecting The Sabbath Can Lead Us To Finding Other Sins More Acceptable

Today, I am reading and commenting on  Ezekiel 22-23.

My lovely wife married me 22 years ago on the 23rd of this month.  So I am going to wish her Happy Anniversary every day from now until then.

Happy Anniversary, Darling!

God spoke a prophecy against Jerusalem through Ezekiel in today’s passage.  In it God accused the people of Jerusalem of being accepting of various sins.  Their political leadership was guilty of using their power to bring about the deaths of their political enemies.  Some among them not only failed to honor their parents, they treated them with contempt.  Others oppressed the foreigners among them, and still others mistreated widows and orphans.  There were sons who slept with their father’s wives, and fathers who slept with their son’s wives.  People among them took bribes to convict the innocent and others who sought riches at the expense of the poor.  Some extorted gain from their neighbors.  And, in the middle of all of this, God accused them of desecrating the Sabbath and despising holy things.  We often look at that last as a relatively minor sin, but Ezekiel makes clear that God sees it otherwise.  It seems to me that Ezekiel is suggesting that desecrating the Sabbath is a kind of “gateway sin” which leads us to many others.  Or, perhaps to express it another way, a society which does not respect the Sabbath will fail to respect other important limitations on acceptable actions.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Daily Bible Study

September 3, 2021 Bible Study — Despising Holy Things, For Example, the Sabbath, Leads To Other Sins

Today, I am reading and commenting on  Ezekiel 22-23.

As I read through today’s passage I was struck by how Ezekiel lumped together four categories of sin: unjust gain, shedding innocent blood, sacrificing children to idols, and desecrating the Sabbaths.  In chapter 22, he starts out by writing of God’s condemnation of Jerusalem for shedding blood in the midst of the city.  He speaks of how those in authority use their power to shed blood and to make a profit off of the poor.  The context makes it clear that Ezekiel is not referring to those who make a living by providing goods or services to the poor, because the next sentence condemns those who extort unjust gain from their neighbors.  In chapter 23 Ezekiel writes about those who sacrificed their children and then desecrated God’s sanctuary by entering it on the same day.   He is clearly referring to those who killed their children and then proffered worship to God with no remorse.  And he writes about them desecrating God’s Sabbaths and despising holy things.  The implication being that all of the other sins descended from those two.

At the end of chapter 22 Ezekiel brings up a theme which comes up throughout his book; God is looking for someone to build up the walls and stand in the gap.  I feel challenged by this.  God is calling me to stand in the gap for my country, for the people among whom I live.  I feel that I have failed to keep His Sabbath holy (to the degree that this passage refers to the Sabbaths other than the weekly one, I do not currently see how those apply to me).  And I do not spend enough time in prayer.  Recently, I saw a post on social media calling on Christians to commit to dropping what they are doing at 8 PM Central Time every day and spend a minute in prayer.  I feel called by this.  The time of day is not important.  What is important is that you pick a time of day, every day, when you will stop whatever else you are doing and pray.  We can do that can’t we? Commit to take 1 minute out of whatever else we are doing to pray for the people around us?

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Daily Bible Study

September 3, 2020 Bible Study Am I Called to Stand in the Gap? Or to Rebuild the Wall?

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Ezekiel 22-23.

As I have been reading Ezekiel I have seen parallels between the condemnation Ezekiel made of Jerusalem and our modern society.  Yet, as I look at what is going on our society does not look as if it has reached the point of facing God’s judgement as Jerusalem was when Ezekiel prophesied.  Then I began reading today’s passage: “You despise my holy things and violate my Sabbath days of rest.”  It goes on from there describing other sins which I see around us today.  Which led me to wonder if I am misreading how close God’s judgement is today.  Then I came to the end of chapter 22.

Perhaps I am mistaken, but I believe our society today is at the stage before God got to what he said to Ezekiel at the end of chapter 22.  Right now things are bad, but God is still looking for someone to rebuild the wall of righteousness, for someone to stand in the gap in the wall.  I am not sure those two things are the same.  It seems to me that some of us need to stand in the gaps in the wall, while others among us begin the work of rebuilding that wall.  Are you willing to do your part?  Perhaps your part is calling out sin for the harm it does to those who practice it, especially among those who claim to worship God.  Or, perhaps your part is lovingly working with those who have been hurt by the sin in their lives to show them how God can heal them.  In the first case, you will be standing in the gap and the Enemy will strike at you in an attempt to bring you down.  In the second case, you will be doing the hard work of rebuilding the wall, a task which has little glory and is very strenuous.

Daily Bible Study

September 3, 2019 Bible Study — Idolatry Leads To an Unjust Society

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Ezekiel 22-23.

Ezekiel condemns Jerusalem as a city of murderers.  He goes on to tell them that their idolatry is inherently linked with their willingness to murder.  What truly struck me was the list of sins for which he condemned the leaders of Jerusalem.  From that list, I can cite example after example of all of them being practiced today, except for foreigners being forced to pay for protection.  Even there, I read tales of companies abusing employees who are H1-B visa holders by using their immigration status against them (note: while the stories are plausible I do not know if they are true).  Ezekiel goes on to tell us that this problem extends beyond the leaders to the common people.  Even the common people oppress the poor and rob the needy. 

Ezekiel talks about how both the secular and religious leaders look out only for their own interest.  The secular leaders conspire to take wealth from others.  The religious leaders blur the lines between good and evil, as Isaiah said, they call evil good, and good evil.  Finally, those called to “speak truth to power”, the prophets, make up lies to tell people in order to cover up the sins of their favored leaders (sound familiar?).  The common people seek leaders who will use power to grant them their desires rather than leaders who will justly enforce the laws. 

A study of history shows that when a society fully descends into the state which Ezekiel describes it will become an economic shamble.  Wealth becomes less and less as everyone strives to gain wealth by taking it from others rather than creating it themselves.  Those who spend their time attempting to create wealth quickly lose it to those who merely take it until everyone learns that there is nothing to be gained by being productive.  Throughout history people observe how these behaviors lead to the fall of civilizations and attempt to put in place rules which stop them.  Ezekiel, and most of the Old Testament prophets, tells us that such sins inevitably follow idolatry.  Whatever rules you put in place, those who reject God and His commands will find ways to use to take advantage of others.

Daily Bible Study

September 3, 2018 Bible Study — Who Will Stand In The Gaps?

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Ezekiel 22-23.

    Ezekiel once again received a message of condemnation and warning for the people of Jerusalem. God will be pouring out His judgment on the city because its leaders were bent on murder, oppressing the widow and the fatherless, and mistreating the foreigner. The people make false accusations against others and are obsessed with immoral sex. The religious leaders fail to make a distinction between what is holy and what is unholy. The leaders destroyed peoples’ lives for money. At one time there had been a wall of righteous people around the land. A wall which kept people from straying too far from righteousness. God had looked for people to stand in the gaps in the wall and turn others back to righteousness. He had not found enough of them.

    I see a similar situation today. Our society is obsessed with sex. It defines people by their sexual behavior and has normalized immoral sexual acts. People are encouraged to blame their unhappiness on the way in which they were created. Our leaders tell lies about people and destroy them in order to advance their own power and wealth. Certain groups within our society have intentionally torn down the walls of righteousness which provided guide rails to those just learning to navigate through life. And God is seeking those who are willing to stand in the gaps in those walls, those willing to take the abuse that will be dished out to those who point others towards righteousness. Are you willing to take the risk to stand in the gap and declare that sin is sin? Am I?

Daily Bible Study

September 3, 2017 Bible Study — Standing In The Gap and Rebuilding The Wall Of Righteousness

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Ezekiel 22-23.

    Ezekiel lists out the sins of the people of Israel still living in Jerusalem and Judah. The leaders are in it for themselves, going so far as to kill to advance themselves. The people despise anything holy. Sexual immorality is rampant, even that which most would consider deviant and twisted. So-called prophets speak words on behalf of God which He has not said. Even the common people oppress others when they get the opportunity. Then Ezekiel tells us what we can do if we find ourselves in a similar society (which, in my opinion, we do). God was looking for people to rebuild the wall of righteousness and others to stand in the gap in the wall.

    What does it mean to “stand in the gap” and to “rebuild the wall of righteousness”? This is certainly not authoritative, but here is my take on it. We stand in the gap by pointing out how these various sins have negative consequences both for the people committing them and for the people around them. We do so by showing how sexual immorality leads to misery and poverty (sexual immorality leads to people failing to form stable families and stable families are the surest way to not be in poverty). I will not go into details about how other sins do similar things, but I will point out that God was not arbitrary in declaring things sin. He commanded us not to do certain things because those things have negative consequences, even when we do not see it that way. But standing in the gap is not enough, someone must rebuild the wall of righteousness. This involves doing more than just showing people how sin destroys themselves and others. It involves doing positive good and convincing others to turn from sin to do positive good. It means helping the poor and oppressed (and convincing others to do likewise). It means showing those trapped in sexual immorality that love is not sex and sex is not love; showing them how following God’s commands about sexuality will allow them to heal from the hurt and pain they are suffering.
    God is calling some of us to “stand in the gap” and others to “rebuild the wall”, but most of us He is calling to go back and forth between standing in the gap and rebuilding the wall. We make our statements declaring the devastation of sin. Then we walk along side those who have been broken by sin and show them how God can rebuild their lives and heal them.

Daily Bible Study

September 3, 2016 Bible Study — Refiner’s Fire and Standing In the Gap

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

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Today, I am reading and commenting on Ezekiel 22-23.

    In today’s passage Ezekiel prophesied against Jerusalem, her leaders and her people. The leaders are bent on murder, parents are treated with contempt, foreigners need to pay protection money, orphans and widows are wronged, and on, and on the list of the sins of Jerusalem’s people goes. Let us look at the list of sins which Ezekiel lays out. Doesn’t it sound a lot like the sins of our country? Ezekiel goes on to talk about leaders who destroy people’s lives for money and religious leaders who make false prophesies to cover for them. Even the common people oppress the poor. Society is corrupt from top to bottom.

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    Then Ezekiel uses two metaphors which I really love. The first is the refiner’s fire. A refiners purifies metal by heating up to the melting point and then the impurities are skimmed off of the top. In a similar manner, God sends trials and tribulations against a people or nation to purify them. He, also, sends trials and tribulations into the lives of individuals to purify them. We need to embrace this when it happens to us. However, the second metaphor is in some ways even more powerful. God is looking for people to rebuild the wall of righteousness to hold back His fury against the sins of the nation. Or, failing that, someone to stand in the gap in the wall to turn aside the coming onslaught. Are we working to rebuild the wall of righteousness which once protected our society against its sins? And, if we fail in rebuilding the wall before God’s judgment is poured out (perhaps because there were not enough workers), are we willing to stand in the gap, to offer ourselves up to protect our fellow man from the coming destruction?