Chapter Twenty-Two

The Sins of Jerusalem

About these sins, which now bring destruction upon the kingdom of Judah, the prophet has already spoken much. The chief of them was idolatry, this historical sin of Israel (chapters XVI, XX), especially worship at the high places (chapter VI) and the defilement of the temple with pagan abominations (chapters V, VIII). To this were joined Zedekiah’s treachery (chapter XVII) and various kinds of offenses and contemptuous treatment on the part of those remaining in Jerusalem toward the exiles (Ezek 11:15). In general, in the opinion of the prophet, those remaining after the evacuation were far worse than his fellow exiles (Ezek 14:21 and onward Ezek 11:16 and onward Ezek 16:21 and onward): violence and bloodshed among them brought about a complete perversion of all existing relations (Ezek 7:12 and onward Ezek 8:17; Ezek 9:9; Ezek 11:6 and onward). Here, in the conclusion of the first part of the book, the prophet once more gathers all his accusations against those remaining in the city, who always and everywhere resisted the will of God and defiled the holy land. The list of sins from chapter XVIII appears here again significantly supplemented (verses 2-16), and the second part of the chapter shows the complete corruption of the city in its separate classes first through a comparison with a smelting furnace (verses 17-22), and then through direct speech (verses 17-31). The time of composition of the chapter is right before the onset of judgment (verse 14), when inhabitants of the provincial cities of Judea were already fleeing before the advancing enemy to the walls of the Jerusalem fortress (verses 19 and onward).

Ezekiel 22:2. And you, son of man, will you judge, will you judge the city of bloodshed? Then declare to it all its abominations. “Will you judge.” Why have you ceased to accuse the criminal city? Ezek 20:4. “Judge” is not in the LXX. – “The city of bloodshed.” By the very first words mentioning Jerusalem, its character is defined: it is a city of blood; in this name are united the chief sins of Jerusalem, which consist of violence, unjust judgment, and idolatry (Ezek 16:21). It should be kept in mind that sins against blood for Ezekiel belong to the category of more religious than ethical: Ezek 18:6; compare here verse 3, 4, 9-11. – “Then declare to it all its abominations” – Ezek 16:2.

Ezekiel 22:3. And say: Thus says the Lord God: O city that sheds blood within you, to bring your time; and makes idols within you to defile yourself! Why bloodshed is set against idolatry, see the preceding verse and Ezek 18:6. – “Within you”, Slavonic more precisely: “upon you”, upon your own head; Vulgate: contra semetipsum.

Ezekiel 22:4. In your blood which you have shed you have become guilty, and by the idols which you have made you have defiled yourself, and you have brought your days near and reached the years of your life. For this I will give you into the reproach of nations, into the mockery of all lands. “You have brought your days near.” The sinner, multiplying his sins, brings nearer the time of his death and divine punishment, shortens, as it were, the time of God’s longsuffering and mercy. So for Judea there cannot be days of old age; the last days of life come prematurely. – “Reached the years of your life” – Slavonic more clearly: “brought the time of your years”.

Ezekiel 22:5. Those near and far from you will mock you, you who are unclean of name, abounding in tumult. “Those near” – perhaps the Ammonites, Edomites. – “Those far.” The shame of Jerusalem will be so great that the news of it will spread everywhere. “Unclean of name” – defiled by idolatry. – “Abounding in tumult” – innocent blood shed. That and the other in the LXX and Vulgate is divided into three epithets and put in the vocative case: and cry out to you (addition to Hebrew): O unclean, renowned (nobilis) and abounding in lawlessness (grandis in interitu).

Ezekiel 22:6. Behold, the princes of Israel, each one according to his power, have been in you to shed blood. The enumeration of the sins of Jerusalem begins (until verse 13), which is conducted without a definite order and with repetitions (for example, verse 6 compare with 9 and 12); but in general in the enumeration Ezekiel had in mind the Ten Commandments. First the sins of those in authority are indicated (on the basis of which one might think that separate classes will be examined, but this is only in verses 25 and onward), since they are first guilty of general corruption: the great ones set the example and the small ones follow it. “Those who rule” – hardly the kings (compare Jer 22:1), although some former kings, for example, Jehoiakim (2 Sam 24:4), Manasseh (2 Sam 21:16) are accused by the sacred historians precisely of bloodshed, but since the present state of Jerusalem is being described, the government of Zedekiah must be meant. “Each one according to his power.” Slavonic: “each one according to their strength mixed among you, for the sake of shedding blood”: to have greater success and impunity in violent bloodshed the rulers made alliances among themselves. – “Among you.” And all this was done in Jerusalem. – “Have been... to shed blood.” They only thought about bloodshed.

Ezekiel 22:7. They curse father and mother among you, oppress the stranger among you, wrong the orphan and widow among you. What the “rulers” (verse 6) do on a large scale, all the lower classes allow themselves to do on a small scale, within the limits of possibility. The enumeration of sins begins here apparently with ethical duties, from which in verse 8 the prophet transitions to religious, but in verse 12 again returns to ethical. The cursing of parents is placed first perhaps because of the gravity of this sin; the offense to foreigners is placed second perhaps because of its widespread nature. The gravest sins against neighbors are indicated; in verse 12 already less important ones.

Ezekiel 22:8. You have despised My holy things and profaned My Sabbaths. Of the purely religious vices, first the general ones are indicated – disrespect toward sacred places and times. Under holy things Ezekiel generally understands chiefly the Temple together with all that is performed in it. “You have despised” – by imperfect observance of rites, for example, by making unlawful sacrifices or by mixing superstitions and idol cults. The Sabbaths are the oldest ordinance after circumcision, and consequently not less important, yet probably less observed (it is remarkable that no prophet complains of non-observance of circumcision), which is something Ezekiel complains of more than once (Ezek 20:13 and others).

Ezekiel 22:9. Slanderers are among you for the purpose of shedding blood; among you they eat upon the mountains in honor of idols, in your midst they commit lewd acts. “Slanderers” – in court, false witnesses, which consequently multiplied greatly in the dying Judea. Some accusation, even if false, was always needed in court. – “For the purpose of shedding blood.” Consequently, death sentences were not rare, an indication of which was given more than once by the prophet. Again a juxtaposition of bloodshed, as mainly a religious crime, with idolatry, sexual fornication, and other sexual abominations (Ezek 18:10-11). – “They eat upon the mountains...” – Ezek 18:6. – “Lewd acts”, namely the ones enumerated next.

Ezekiel 22:10. They uncover the nakedness of father among you, they force a woman during her menstruation among you. Ezekiel 22:11. One commits abomination with his neighbor’s wife; another defiles his daughter-in-law; another forces his sister, his father’s daughter. The enumeration of sexual abominations goes from top to bottom and again upward. – “They uncover the nakedness of father.” As shown by Lev 20:11; Deut 27:20, sexual cohabitation with the wife or concubine of the father is meant, which was found among many Arabs of antiquity: Smith D. Alt. Test. 350. Kinship and Marriage 89 and onward: the LXX has a modest periphrasis: “revealed the shame of father.” – “A woman during her menstruation...” – Ezek 18:6. – “One.” In Slavonic too strong: “each one”: Hebrew “ish” here τις. – “Defiles his daughter-in-law.” blessed Theodoret: “worse than daughter-in-law” (as in Slavonic). Tacitus (V, 5) about the Jews: “terribly lustful people: from cohabitation with strangers they abstain, but among themselves nothing is forbidden.” – “His sister, his father’s daughter” – not half-sister, or: a comparison to strengthen the thought. The end of the enumeration hardly yields to the beginning.

Ezekiel 22:12. They accept bribes among you to shed blood; you take interest and increase, and you make profit from your neighbors by violence, and you have forgotten Me, says the Lord God. After the defilement of blood, the speech returns again to bloodshed (not in the proper sense, but in the sense of depriving of livelihood), through the sale of justice, through excessive interest (“interest”, Slavonic “usury”) and small interest (“increase”, Slavonic “excess”; see Ezek 18:8) and all kinds of violence (it is hardly under this last that such particulars are understood as heavy taxes to buy alliance with Egypt and the Ammonites or offenses toward those who moved to Babylon Ezek 7:12; LXX: “and you have concluded the conclusion of your evil which is in violence”, that is, in general your violences have reached the extreme limits). – “And you have forgotten Me” – sounds here touchingly – tenderly.

Ezekiel 22:13. And behold, I have struck My hands together at the avarice that is revealed in you, and at the blood that is in your midst. “I have struck My hands together” in indignation: Ezek 6:11. – “At the avarice that is revealed in you” – the LXX do not read this.

Ezekiel 22:14. Will your heart endure, will your hands remain strong in the days when I deal with you? I, the Lord, have spoken and will do it. Interrogative form to strengthen the assertion. The answer to this question is given in Ezek 7:17. There could be no question of resistance to Nebuchadnezzar, because through him God Himself will act; He promises this and so it can be trusted that He will fulfill His threat (powerful: “I have spoken and will do it”).

Ezekiel 22:15. And I will scatter you among the nations, and disperse you through the lands, and consume the filthiness from you. “I will consume the filthiness from you.” This is the only purpose of such a severe judgment.

Ezekiel 22:16. And you shall be profaned in yourself before the nations, and you shall know that I am the Lord. “You shall be profaned in yourself” – a conjectural translation of the Hebrew expression, which should literally be translated: “you shall defile yourself.” The LXX, reading “nachal” instead of “chalal”: κληρονομησω εν σοι, “and I will inherit in you”, that is, you will again become, as once, my possession and inheritance.

Ezekiel 22:17. And the word of the Lord came to me: Ezekiel 22:18. Son of man! The house of Israel has become dross to Me; all of them are copper, and tin, and iron, and lead in the furnace; they have become the dross of silver. Ezekiel 22:19. Therefore thus says the Lord God: Because all of you have become dross, behold, I will gather you together in Jerusalem. Ezekiel 22:20. As one gathers silver and copper and iron and lead and tin into the furnace, to blow the fire upon them in order to melt them; so I will gather you in My anger and in My wrath, and I will lay you down and melt you. Ezekiel 22:21. I will gather you and blow upon you with the fire of My wrath, and you shall be melted in its midst. Ezekiel 22:22. As silver is melted in the furnace, so shall you be melted in its midst, and you shall know that I, the Lord, have poured out My wrath upon you. The coming siege of Jerusalem, to which the inhabitants of surrounding cities will flee, the prophet compares with the melting of impure silver (“dross of silver” – Slavonic “silver mixed”) in a furnace, a lump of which contains far more than silver (in token of which it is in verse 18 placed last and only in verse 20 first) unnoble admixtures: copper, iron, lead and tin (Slavonic for distinction from lead: “pure tin”; LXX: κασσιτερος and μολιβος). This comparison, while Ezekiel unmistakably had before him Isa 1:22, and perhaps also Jer 6:30 (compare Zech 13:9; Mal 3:3), is based on the thought not so much of the purification of Israel as of its punishment (although unmistakably silver – the pious, but nothing is said of the separation of silver through melting, but only of the melting itself, “so I in My anger in My wrath will gather and lay down (Vulgate: requiescam) and melt you”). It is remarkable that for Ezekiel Israel seems to be reduced to Jerusalem: verse 19. When what the prophet foretells comes to pass, then the Jews will know that they had God against them, Whom they considered a friend; verse 22, compare Ezek 5:13.

Ezekiel 22:23. And the word of the Lord came to me: In the third of the prophetic speeches of the chapter the prophet directly portrays the corruption of separate classes of the Judean kingdom, to which in the preceding speech he pointed figuratively under the image of various admixtures to silver.

Ezekiel 22:24. Son of man! Say to her: You are a land that is not cleansed, not rained upon in the day of wrath! By its complete corruption of all social relations, Jerusalem is like land that can give no fruit, because the wrath of God has denied it rain. To understand the force of this comparison, one must remember what rain means for Palestine: its cessation turns the country directly into a desert. Perhaps at this time God actually began to carry out His repeated threat that because of impiety He would not give rain to Judea (Deut 11:17 and others). – “Not cleansed” – a conjectural translation of a dark Hebrew word, which more agrees with the context the LXX translate: “not rained upon”.

Ezekiel 22:25. A conspiracy of her prophets in her midst is like a roaring lion tearing prey; they devour souls, take wealth and precious things, and multiply her widows. The enumeration of the different classes of society with the purpose of denouncing them is conducted from the point of view of their significance in religious-moral life. Therefore the prophets and priests are examined first, and then the princes. The LXX, and after them most modern commentators, presume in this verse speech not about prophets, but about princes (more prominent than in verse 27): neviyega the LXX evidently read as nesiyega. Reasons for such a reading: 1) it would be more natural to place the princes first (we have seen why prophets could be placed first); 2) about prophets there is speech in verses 28 and 30 (but there the speech about them is according to special circumstances – see verse 28); 3) a roaring, greedy king of beasts, as in Ezek 19:7, is an excellent image for greedy princes from the reigning house (but then verse 27 would repeat 25). “A conspiracy of her prophets.” The false prophets entered among themselves into an agreement to always announce to the people a happy future, and thereby turned the people against those who foretold the opposite. From this it can be concluded that the false prophets acted not in isolation, but formed a corporation, which became powerful through its unity, and were very careful that they not contradict each other in their false predictions. But the LXX read Hebrew kesher – “conspiracy”, as asher, “which”: “its (that is, Jerusalem’s) elders.” “Like a lion...” The comparison points to the robbery of the prophets’ adepts. – “They devour souls.” They rob, or ruin the innocent, who resist them. – “And multiply her widows.” They become, thanks to their speeches, the cause of death for many, for example, by stirring up to war with the Chaldeans.

Ezekiel 22:26. Her priests have violated My law and have profaned My holy things; they have not distinguished between holy and unholy, and they have not taught the difference between clean and unclean, and they have hidden their eyes from My Sabbaths, and I am profaned in their midst. The accusations against the priests are characteristic in that they express the prophet’s strict view of the duties of this knowledge. – “Have violated My law”, which they should guard and which they should teach; compare Zeph 3:4; Hos 8:1. – “Have profaned My holy things” – verse 8. – “Have not distinguished between holy and unholy”, perhaps for example, burning in sacrifice forbidden parts of an animal, or by allowing all without distinction to the sacred meal after the peace offering. – “Have not taught the difference between clean and unclean.” Do not warn the people against eating unclean animals; in Ezek 44:23 this and the preceding expression are nearly synonymous. – “And have hidden their eyes from My Sabbaths.” Do not care about keeping them among the people, indifferent to their frequent violation; verse 8. – “And I am profaned in their midst”, literally “desecrated”; Slavonic: “and they defiled me in their midst.” An extremely powerful expression instead of the usual: “they dishonored the name of God.” The priests deprived God, in the eyes of the people, of that holiness (of His name), which is the main foundation and purpose of all God’s actions in the world.

Ezekiel 22:27. Her princes in her are like wolves tearing prey; they shed blood and destroy souls in order to get dishonest gain. “Like wolves.” Compare Zeph 3:3. A less noble comparison than for the prophets in verse 25: “like a lion.” – “They shed blood.” Concerning the prophets, there is no such grave charge. Unjust death sentences are meant, probably increased by that time (compare Ezek 11:8), and perhaps in general deprivation of livelihood (confiscation of property, imprisonment).

Ezekiel 22:28. And her prophets smear for them with whitewash, seeing emptiness and divining falsehood for them, saying, ‘Thus says the Lord God,’ when the Lord has not spoken. The guilty parties for such conduct of the princes are the prophets (why the speech returns to them), who, as placed on the watch of public morality, should denounce the government, threaten it with divine judgment, but instead they comfort the princes (“them”) with false prophecies of a happy future. Compare Ezek 13:6-7; Mic 3:11; Zeph 3:4; Jer 23:31 and onward.

Ezekiel 22:29. The people of the land practice extortion and commit robbery, and they oppress the poor and the needy, and they oppress the stranger unlawfully. “The people of the land”, literally “people of the land” (Slavonic “people of the land”), that is, the common people, the rural inhabitants, and in general the whole people, in distinction from the higher classes of society. After what has been said about the leaders of the people (spiritual and secular), it is not surprising that the common people is no better. – “Practice extortion.” Robbers, extortion of the people. Slavonic incorrectly places “people” in the accusative and considers the subject the far-off “princes.” – “Commit robbery and oppress each other...” – Ezek 18:7. – “Oppress the stranger” verse 7. A remarkable concern for strangers in Ezekiel.

Ezekiel 22:30. I sought among them a man who would build a wall and stand in the breach before Me for the land, that I might not destroy it, but I found no one. “Who would build a wall”, to close the breach in it: Ezek 13:5. Could by his intercession before God avert destruction from the people, as Moses did (Exod 32:11). Commentators justly ask here why Ezekiel did not consider Jeremiah capable of doing this, although he knew of him, as evidenced by his broad use of his book, and although Jeremiah more than once interceded before God for the people (Jer 7:16). But prayer intercession in such cases is not enough; something must be done for the improvement of the people, as much as, for example, Moses did; and Jeremiah with his contemporaries could do nothing or almost nothing in this regard, which speaks not against him, but against Jerusalem and Judea, whose moral state the prophet has in mind in this place (hence the following verse).

Ezekiel 22:31. Therefore I will pour out My wrath upon them, with the fire of My anger will I consume them, and bring their deeds upon their own head, says the Lord God. If every hope for improvement is lost, then Jehovah has nothing left but to give free rein to His wrath and turn against the wicked people, headed by its leaders, their behavior. For explanation of separate expressions of the verse see Ezek 7:8.