Sermon - AudioEzekiel 22-23 - Audio
Ezekiel 22-23 - Reading
Daily Insights - Please Comment
The vision of the bloody city [ chapter 22 ]. This oracle of judgment is addressed to Jerusalem as representative of the nation. The main principle underlying the chapter is the satiric list of vices, accompanied by declarations of the wrath of God that these sins deserve. -ESVLB-
Q. The city is representative of the nation because this is a place of influence and large population. How does this relate to our cities today? What do our cities say about what we find important?
2 - "son of man" = mortal
3-13 - The charges are brought:
*bloodshed
*idolatry
*no respect for father/mother or authority
*no hospitality to travelers/foreigners
*orphan and widow are wronged
*profaned sabbath - have not kept it and have wronged it
*despised God's gifts to man
*slander
*lewd acts (adultery, incest, etc)
*bribery
They have forgotten God.
16 - The very thing God did not want to happen, will come about because of the people's actions. His name will be profaned among the nations.
25-28 - the highest of officials will be condemned for the recorded actions.
The chapter ends with: "The people of the land have practiced extortion and committed robbery; they have oppressed the poor and needy, and have extorted from the alien without justice. And I sought for anyone among them who would repair the wall and stand in the breach before me on behalf of the land, so that I would not destroy it; but I found no one.
Ezekiel 23
Vision of the adulterous sisters [ chapter 23 ]. The visionary and satiric modes continue to dominate, as does the technique of symbolism. The chapter narrates the history of two sisters and prostitutes named Oholah and Oholibah, symbolic of Samaria and Jerusalem (Judah). The sequence is as follows: the lewd behavior of the two metaphoric sisters (vv. 1–21); an oracle predicting destruction for Oholibah (vv. 22–35); an oracle of judgment against both sisters (vv. 36–49). A chapter such as this asks us first to look at its message for the original audience but then to look beyond that to what is universal in this story of sin and judgment. The metaphoric approach to the subject makes it easy to see what is universal in the situation. -ESVLB-
Here as elsewhere, adultery is equated with idolatry. The punishment for adultery is death, and so the adulterous cities are destroyed.
4 - Oholah, “her tent,” refers to Samaria. The name Oholah alludes to the presence of God, who dwells in a tent.
5-10 - Oholah’s or Samaria’s relations with the officers of Assyria presuppose its earlier alliance with Assyria under the Jehu dynasty, specifically, Menahem (2 Kings 15:17–22), and Hoshea (2 Kings 17:1–6). Ezekiel portrays this alliance as harlotry, and argues that it led to Israel’s destruction (in 722 BCE). The reference to the Assyrians, warriors, deliberately employs the ambiguous Heb term “kerovim,” lit. “those who draw near,” for war, sacrifice, sex, etc. -JSB-
11 - Oholibah - Jerusalem/Judah
11-21 - Ezekiel charges that Oholibah, Jerusalem, was even worse than her sister in pursuing both the Assyrians and the Chaldeans or Babylonians (see Jer. 3:6–10, 11). King Ahaz of Judah requested Assyrian assistance against Israel in the Syro–Ephraimitic War (2 Kings ch 16), and Hezekiah later made an alliance with Babylonia against Assyria (2 Kings 20:11–19; Isa. ch 39). The reference to relations with Egypt may recall Solomon’s early alliance with Egypt (1 Kings 3:1) and Jehoiakim’s support from Pharaoh Neco before he turned to Babylonia (2 Kings 23:31–24:7). -JSB-
22 - The same people Jerusalem flocked to will now become their overtakers.
22-27 - accusation now goes to punishment
23 - Pekod, Shoa, and Koa, Aramean - Allies of Babylonian Empire
32 - cup = poison
35 - God continually uses the phrase "Forgotten Me." This is what everything stems from. You will reap the consequences of doing so.
36 - Another issue is that people have stood by and watched this happen without condemning these acts. The community is suffering and some are just watching, thus suffering with it. We are not individuals, we are community. We can not just sit by and watch.
36-45 - The actions listed in vv. 37–39 provide a more prosaic list of offenses than the consistently metaphorical language in the earlier part of the chapter. -ESVSB-
46-49 - Punishment will come upon them and surrounding cities.
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