Ezekiel 22:25 Komentář

Here are three separate messages which God entrusts the prophet to deliver concerning Judah and Jerusalem, and all to the same purport, to show them their sins and the judgments that were coming upon them for those sins. I. Here is a catalogue of their sins, by which they had exposed themselves to shame and for which God would bring them to ruin (v. 1-16). II. They are here compared to dross, and are condemned as dross to the fire (Eze 22:17-22). III. All orders and degrees of men among them are here found guilty of the neglect of the duty of their place and of having contributed to the national guilt, which therefore, since none appeared as intercessors, they must all expect to share in the punishment of (Eze 22:23-31).

INTRODUCTION TO EZEKIEL 22 In this chapter a catalogue or list of the sins of the Jews is given; a comparison of them to dross is made, and they are dealt with accordingly; and a complaint is lodged against all ranks and orders of men for their sins; on account of which, there being no intercessor for them, they are threatened with captivity and destruction. The prophet is ordered to judge them, and lay before them their abominable sins, Eze 22:1, of which a long list is given, as murder, idolatry; contempt of parents; oppression of the stranger, fatherless, and widow; negligence of holy things; profanation of the sabbath; tale bearing, lewdness and uncleanness of various sorts; bribery, usury, extortion, and dishonest gain, Eze 22:3 for which the Lord threatens to deal with them in a manner that would be intolerable to them; that he would carry them captive, and scatter them among the Heathen, Eze 22:14, they are compared to dross, and as such should be gathered into a furnace, and melted down, Eze 22:17, all ranks and orders of men are complained of, because of their sins, and threatened, Eze 22:23, the prophets for their voraciousness, rapine, murder, and lies, Eze 22:25, the priests, for their violation of the law, neglect of holy things, and profanation of the sabbath, Eze 22:26, the princes, for their cruelty, murder, and dishonest gain, Eze 22:27, the people of the land, for their oppression and robbery, Eze 22:29, and there being none to stand in the gap for them, the Lord threatens to pour out his wrath upon them, and consume them, Eze 22:30.

There is a conspiracy of her prophets in the midst thereof,.... Not of the prophets of the Lord, but of her prophets; such as were agreeable to her, the false prophets. The Targum renders it, "a company of scribes;'' the interpreters of the law; these entered into a confederacy together against the true prophets, and agreed to prophesy the same things, to flatter the people with peace and prosperity, when sudden destruction was at hand: like a roaring lion ravening the prey; that roars when hungry, and while it is tearing the prey in pieces; so these false prophets thundered out their menaces against the true prophets, and those that adhered to them; clamouring against them as enemies to the state; and threatening them with accusations to it; and carrying on a judicial process against them: they have devoured souls; persecuted men to death, that would not give credit to their prophecies; and destroyed the souls of those that did, with their false doctrines and prophecies: they have taken the treasure and precious things; of those they destroyed; or of others, for prophesying smooth things to them; filthy lucre being the principal thing they had in view: they have made her many widows in the midst thereof; by persecuting their husbands to death for not believing their prophecies; or by persuading to hold out the siege, under a notion of deliverance; whereby the lives of many were lost by the sword, famine, and pestilence, to whose death they might be said to be accessary.

(Verse 23 and following) And the word of the Lord came to me, saying: Son of man, say to him: You are unclean land, not cleansed on the day of wrath. The conspiracy of the prophets within it, like a roaring lion seizing its prey: they have devoured souls, taken riches and precious things, multiplied widows within it. Its priests have despised my law and defiled my sanctuaries. They have not kept a distance between the holy and the profane, and they have not understood the difference between the unclean and the clean. They have turned their eyes away from my sabbaths, and I have been defiled among them. Her princes in the midst of her are like wolves tearing the prey to shed blood, and to destroy souls, and to get dishonest gain. And her prophets have daubed them without tempering the mortar, seeing vain things, and divining lies unto them, saying: Thus saith the Lord God: whereas the Lord hath not spoken. The people of the land have used oppression, and exercised robbery, and have done violence to the needy and poor, and have oppressed the stranger wrongfully. And I sought among them a man who would interpose a wall, and stand opposite me for the land, so that I would not destroy it, and I did not find one. So I poured out my indignation upon them, I consumed them with the fire of my wrath. I repaid their deeds upon their heads,’ says the Lord God. A diligent listener could inquire about the impurities that violate the purity of silver, and have been mixed with copper, lead, tin, and iron. Therefore, what is expressed there under the image of a city and a furnace, is proclaimed as under the likeness of land that is not irrigated and does not receive rain. We should understand those rains about which it is written: I will command the clouds that they rain no rain upon it (Isa. V, 6); we expect when a temporary and late rain is given to us, about which it is written: You will separate voluntary rain, O God, for your inheritance (Ps. LXVII, 10). But it is a day of fury, which each person procures for themselves with a multitude of sins. We desire to know what the scum of the city is, which is the hardness and foulness of the earth, full of thorns and briers. The conspiracy, he says, of the Prophets, or according to the LXX, the leaders in the midst of it having the likeness of a lion, about which Peter writes: Our adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, goeth about (I Peter V, 8). This lion and all its companions do not seek to devour bodies, but souls, and they receive rewards and judge everything by money. That this indeed happened to the people of the Jews at that time is beyond doubt. For the Lord brought evil upon them because of the priests, and the rulers, and the prophets. But in our Jerusalem we often see this: those who, according to the Seventy, devour souls in power, and accept payment to make many widows who have lost the Lord as their spouse. However, this is the faction and conspiracy of these prophets, that they may be each other's supporters and do all things for the sake of filthy gain. The priests who should be the leaders of the temple, from whose mouth the knowledge of the Law is sought, violate the sanctuaries, and there is no distinction between the holy and the profane except for money. They turn their eyes away from the Sabbath, and they do not recognize the rest of God which is in the knowledge of the Scriptures; neither do they say with the prophet: Open my eyes, and I will consider the wonders of your law (Psalm 118:18). Nor do they say what the Apostle says: But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord (2 Corinthians 3:18). Among such prophets and priests, the Lord's mediator is defiled, of whom it is written: But there stands among you one whom you do not know (John 1:26). Therefore, prophets or leaders are compared to lions. But the princes whom we understand to be of a lower rank imitate the rapaciousness of wolves, so that they shed not the blood of bodies, but of souls, and they greedily pursue gains, not at all satisfied with that: 'They who serve the altar, live by the altar' (1 Corinthians 9:13); but after they have approached the ministry of God, they gather the riches of Croesus. Even those prophets who foretell future events anointed them without moderation, as we have already said, of the prophesying prophets, who anointed a wall without the mixture of plaster, which is dissolved by rain. They see such things as empty, and not so much prophesy as they divine falsehood, saying to the miserable land: 'Thus says the Lord, the Lord promises this', when the Lord has not spoken to them. But the people of the land are not of God, but rather imitators of earthly works, rulers and priests, who by deceit and power do all things: not oppressing the rich, but rather the poor, of whom it is written: 'But the poor cannot endure a threat.' And: The redemption of a man's soul, by his own wealth (Prov. XIII, 8). They also oppressed the stranger and foreigner, who had not yet become a citizen of the Church, but only a listener, and who had the beginnings of faith, with slander: so that after they had gone through the sea and the dry land, they would make him a proselyte and make him a child of hell. Among such a multitude of vices and crimes, I sought for a man who could resist my anger, and who could stand against my fire and my burning, like Moses, and Aaron, and Samuel; but I could not find one. And he spoke to Moses, saying: Let me alone, that my wrath may be kindled against them, and that I may destroy them (Exodus 32:10). And because I could not find anyone who resisted and held me back, I poured out my indignation upon them, and consumed them, not without measure and judgment, but to repay their ways upon their own heads, attributing their own sins to them as authors, or certainly to the heads of the people, the leaders, princes, and prophets, of whom none dared to resist the angry Lord, and for whose sake the land remained barren and desolate, not deserving to receive the rain of the Lord.

This chapter contains a recital of the sins of Jerusalem, Eze 22:1-12; for which God threatens it with severe judgments, Eze 22:13-16, in order to purify it from the dross, Eze 22:17-22. And as the corruption is general, pervading prophets, priests, princes, and people; so, it is declared, shall be the punishment, Eze 22:23-31.

There is a conspiracy - The false prophets have united together to say and support the same things; and have been the cause of the destruction of souls, and the death of many, so that widows, through their means, are multiplied in thee.

GOD'S JUDGMENT ON THE SINFULNESS OF JERUSALEM. (Eze. 22:1-31) See Eze 20:4; that is, "Wilt thou not judge?" &c. (compare Eze 23:36). the bloody city--literally, "the city of bloods"; so called on account of murders perpetrated in her, and sacrifices of children to Molech (Eze 22:3-4, Eze 22:6, Eze 22:9; Eze 24:6, Eze 24:9).

conspiracy--The false prophets have conspired both to propagate error and to oppose the messages of God's servants. They are mentioned first, as their bad influence extended the widest. prey--Their aim was greed of gain, "treasure, and precious things" (Hos 6:9; Zep 3:3-4; Mat 23:14). made . . . many widows--by occasioning, through false prophecies, the war with the Chaldeans in which the husbands fell.