Ezek. 20 - 23 - "For The Honor Of His Name"

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As we begin Chapter 20, we see the men of Jerusalem sitting before Ezekiel requesting a word from God. As Ezekiel prayed, God spoke!  But how He spoke was heart breaking.

God reminded the people of Jerusalem of their sinful history. He reminded them of how He brought them to the land of Egypt when Joseph was the Prime Minister and how they lived in the beautiful land of Goshen. But when they started to worship the Egyptians gods (there were at least 10 gods), God wanted to destroy His people, but in order to "protect the honor" of His name He spared them from doom and led them by Moses out into the wilderness to learn His laws and His ways.  

However, even though they were smack dab in the middle of the desert and had no distractions and influence from other countries, the people of Israel still became rebellious and refused to fully trust the God who loved them and saved them from the clutches of Egyptian slavery.  During that time, God wanted to wipe them out completely and start a new race of people through Moses, but to "protect the honor" of His name He didn't do it. God didn't want the other nations of the world to think He brought them out of Egypt only to be unable to take care of them and protect them.

So, God gave them the Promised Land - one of the best lands in all of the world.  Sadly, the people of Israel didn't fully follow God's instructions to cleanse the and of sinful people and idols.  As such, the people once again turned to idol worship. Once again God wanted to destroy them, but for the "honor of His name" He didn't do it.

But by now, God is done with them!  His decision is to scatter them to the wind and to all parts of the world. Many years had passed and many prophets had tried to warn the people to repent of their sin and turn to God, but as time went on they fell deeper into sin. God knew He had to punish them in order to get their attention. That's why He set up the Babylonian captivity.  God is about to purge His people.

In Chapter 22, God tells them, "I will make you an object of mockery throughout the world."  Sadly, that still holds true today!  The Jews have been mocked and ridiculed for centuries. No other nation has been so cruelly treated. Even Adolf Hitler and many of the German leaders in the 1940's were willing to exterminate every Jew. Millions upon millions were sent to gas chambers, burned alive, shot to death, or even starved.

Listen to how God describes His people, "The people of Israel are the worthless slag that remains after silver is melted. They are the dross that is left over - a useless mixture of copper, tin, iron, and lead."

And listen to how angry He is, "Because you are all worthless slag, I will bring you to my crucible in Jerusalem.   Just as silver, copper, iron, lead, and tin are melted down in a furnace, I will melt you down in the heat of my fury.   I will gather you together and blow the fire of my anger upon you,   and you will melt like silver in fierce heat. Then you will know that I, the Lord, have poured out my fury on you.’”

And listen to how broken hearted God is, "I looked for someone who might rebuild the wall of righteousness that guards the land. I searched for someone to stand in the gap in the wall so I wouldn’t have to destroy the land, but I found no one." 

As we conclude with Chapter 23, we see God using Israel and Judah as examples. If you remember, Judah broke away from the nation of Israel. The began as 12 tribes, but only Judah (whose capital is Jerusalem) was willing to follow the Lord when Israel (who had a capital city in Samaria) - thus the reasons why God calls these to sisters Samaria (Oholah) and Jerusalem (Oholibah).  

Israel went into sinfulness first while Judah looked on and saw the destruction of Israel's capital city and how the Assyrians captured many of them and made them slaves in another country. In spite of what Judah saw, Judah followed in the same sinful steps as Israel.  God called them two wicked sisters.

Now, we are seeing the end of God's patience with His children. His heart is devasted and broken. The only thing left is to discipline them so that somehow they would gladly return to their God and let Him bless them.  God is still waiting today!